Methods and systems for accelerated MR imaging

An accelerated Magnetic Resonance (MR) image system, comprising:

• a radio frequency (RF) signal generator configured to generate RF excitation pulses in a volume of anatomy and provide subsequent acquisition of associated RF echo data;
• and
• a magnetic field gradient generator configured to generate slice select magnetic field gradients for phase encoding and readout RF data acquisition in the volume of anatomy, the RF signal generator and the gradient generator configured;
• a plurality of RF coils configured to acquire a plurality of two dimensional slices of an image;
• and
• a controller configured to cause the plurality of RF coils to concurrently acquire longitudinal relaxation time (T1) image data of a plurality of different two dimensional slices within the volume of anatomy by causing the RF signal generator and the magnetic field generator to use:
• (i) a preparation pre-scan sequence for acquisition of image calibration data for use in separating concurrently acquired multiple slice T1 map data into separate slices;
• (ii) a non-selective inversion recovery pulse to invert longitudinal magnetization in the volume of anatomy;
• (iii) an excitation RF pulse applied to said plurality of different two dimensional slices in the volume of anatomy to rotate a portion of longitudinal magnetization in a transverse direction;
• and
• (iv) echo-planar-imaging (EPI) acquisition sampling of T1 map data of individual slices of the plurality of slices in response to the application of the excitation RF pulse.

An article of manufacture for operating a multi-slice, multi-segment magnetic resonance (MR) imaging system, the article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium holding computer-executable instructions for performing a method comprising:

• generating radio frequency (RF) excitation pulses in a volume of patient anatomy to provide subsequent acquisition of associated RF echo data;
• generating slice select magnetic field gradients for phase encoding and readout RF data acquisition in the patient anatomy;
• concurrently acquiring T1 map image data of a plurality of two dimensional slices of an image by an acquisition process comprising:
• (i) acquiring image calibration data using a pre-scan sequence;
• (ii) inverting a longitudinal magnetization in the volume of patient anatomy using a non-selective inversion recovery pulse;
• (iii) applying an excitation RF pulse to a plurality of different two dimensional slices in the volume of patient anatomy to rotate a portion of the longitudinal magnetization in a transverse direction;
• (iv) sampling individual slice image data of the plurality of two dimensional slices in response to applying the excitation RF pulse;
• and
• (v) separating the concurrently acquired T1 map image into separate slices.