US 11,852,707 B2
Systems and methods for simultaneous multi-slice magnetic resonance imaging
Yuan Zheng, Houston, TX (US); Lele Zhao, Shanghai (CN); Jian Xu, Houston, TX (US); and Weiguo Zhang, Houston, TX (US)
Assigned to SHANGHAI UNITED IMAGING HEALTHCARE CO., LTD., Shanghai (CN)
Filed by SHANGHAI UNITED IMAGING HEALTHCARE CO., LTD., Shanghai (CN)
Filed on Oct. 21, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/658,297.
Prior Publication US 2021/0116527 A1, Apr. 22, 2021
Int. Cl. G01R 33/483 (2006.01); A61B 5/055 (2006.01); G01R 33/561 (2006.01)
CPC G01R 33/4835 (2013.01) [A61B 5/055 (2013.01); G01R 33/5616 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for simultaneous multi-slice (SMS) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), comprising:
at least one storage device including a set of instructions; and
at least one processor configured to communicate with the at least one storage device, wherein when executing the set of instructions, the at least one processor is configured to direct the system to perform operations including:
acquiring a first set of echo signals and a second set of echo signals, the first set of echo signals being acquired by causing an MRI scanner to apply a plurality of first phase-encoding (PE) steps to a first slice location, a second slice location, and a third slice location of a subject in a first frame, the second set of echo signals being acquired by causing the MRI device to apply a plurality of second PE steps to the first slice location, the second slice location, and the third slice location in a second frame, wherein for the PE steps that correspond to PE lines at a same location in K-space and are applied in the first frame and the second frame, a first phase difference between the first slice location and the second slice location of the first frame changes by 120 degrees from a second phase difference between the first slice location and the second slice location of the second frame in one PE step, and a first phase difference between the first slice location and the third slice location of the first frame changes by 240 degrees from a second phase difference between the first slice location and the third slice location of the second frame in one PE step;
reconstructing a first aliasing image representative of the first slice location, the second slice location, and the third slice location in the first frame based on the first set of echo signals;
reconstructing a second aliasing image representative of the first slice location, the second slice location, and the third slice location in the second frame based on the second set of echo signals;
generating, by performing a combination of the first aliasing image and the second aliasing image, a first reference slice image, a second reference slice image, and a third reference image each of which has a lower temporal resolution than the first aliasing image and the second aliasing image the first reference slice image, the second reference image, and the third reference image being respectively representative of the first slice location, the second slice location, and the third slice location in both the first frame and the second frame; and
reconstructing at least one slice image based on the first aliasing image, the second aliasing image, and at least one of the first reference slice image, the second reference slice image, and the third reference slice image, each slice image of the at least one slice image being representative of one slice location of the first slice location, the second slice location, and the third slice location in one frame of the first frame and the second frame.