In a method and a magnetic resonance (MR) apparatus for distortion correction of MR-acquired scan data of an object, an entry is made into a computer in order to select desired field of view (FOV), in which scan data of the object under examination (U) is to be acquired. An enlarged field of view (gFOV) is created in the computer by enlarging the desired field of view (FOV) in at least one spatial direction. An MR scanner is operated in order to acquire MR scan data in the enlarged field of view. Distortions are corrected in a data set based on scan data from the enlarged field of view, by applying a distortion correction algorithm to that data set. The corrected data set is reduced in the computer to the desired field of view. The reduced corrected data set is made available from the computer for storage and/or display.

A system and method for obtaining magnetic resonance images are provided. The system is programmed to control the RF system to apply a saturation pulse at a reference frequency that saturates a selected labile spin species of the subject. The system is programmed to control the RF system to apply an inversion pulse after a variable delay. The system is programmed to control the RF system and the plurality of gradient coils to apply a motion sensitized driven equilibrium (MSDE) preparation pulse. The system is programmed to control the plurality of gradient coils to read imaging data during an acquisition time period. The system is programmed to reconstruct a T.sub.1 mapping image of the subject with black-blood contrast.

A method of generating a susceptibility weighted image of an object in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus includes: acquiring at least one first complex data piece corresponding to a radio frequency (RF) signal received from the object by using the RF signal; applying a predetermined filter to the at least one first complex data piece to acquire at least one second complex data piece; generating a susceptibility weighted mask by using the at least one second complex data piece; and applying the susceptibility weighted mask to an MRI image of the object to generate the susceptibility weighted image.

A system and method for magnetic resonance imaging is provided. The method may include: determining a scanning parameter, wherein the scanning parameter includes one or more predetermined values; obtaining one or more MR signal sets based on the one or more predetermined values; generating one or more original images based on the one or more MR signal sets, wherein an original image corresponds to an MR signal set; determining one or more virtual values associated with the scanning parameter; and generating one or more virtual images based on the one or more virtual values and the one or more original images, wherein a virtual image corresponds to a virtual value.

A method for correcting B.sub.o fluctuation-induced ghosting artifacts in long-TE gradient-echo scan images, comprising the steps of: acquiring an image (u); determining phase offsets (); and applying the phase offsets () to the image (u); such that an entropy of the spatial intensity variations in the corrected image (u) decreases.

According to one embodiment, a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus includes processing circuitry. The processing circuitry sets imaging parameters for each scan. The processing circuitry specifies the size of the object region in the phase encode direction from a first image. The first image acquired by using a pulse sequence different from EPI. The processing circuitry sets parameters in a field of view in the phase encode direction in a phase correction scan based on the specified size and the size of the field of view in the phase encode direction in a second scan. The phase correction scan is executed for acquiring phase correction information for the first image. The second scan is executed for acquiring a second image by using EPI.

To acquire a more accurate tissue contrast image such as a water-fat separation image in time-series imaging by an MRI apparatus, a static magnetic field non-uniformity map is created from a plurality of echo signals having different TEs obtained in time series, and a water-fat separation image is obtained using the static magnetic field non-uniformity map. Processing (spatial direction discontinuity correction processing) for correcting discontinuity of a phase or a frequency in a spatial direction and processing (time-series direction discontinuity correction processing) for correcting discontinuity in a time-series direction are performed for the static magnetic field non-uniformity map.

In a method and device for the determination of a magnetic resonance control sequence that includes at least one first pulse arrangement that acts in a spatially selective manner in a first selection direction and a subsequent second pulse arrangement that acts in a spatially selective manner in a second selection direction, viewing volume dimension parameter values are registered that define the spatial extent of a viewing volume to be excited. The first selection direction and the second selection direction are established automatically depending on a length ratio of the spatial extent of the viewing volume to be excited in the different selection directions.

An apparatus and method are provided for performing phase unwrapping for an acquired magnetic resonance (MR) image. The method includes modelling the MR phase in the MR image using a Markov random field (MRF) in which the true phase (t) and the wrapped phase (w) are modelled as random variables such that at voxel i of said MR image (t)(i)=(w)(i)+2n(i), where n(i) is an unknown integer that needs to be estimated for each voxel i. The method further includes constructing a graph consisting of a set of vertices V and edges E and two special terminal vertices representing a source s and sink t, where there is a one-to-one correspondence between cuts on the graph and configurations of the MRF, a cut representing a partition of the vertices V into disjoint sets S and T such that sS and tT. The method further includes finding the minimum energy configuration, E(n(i)|(w)) of the MRF on the basis that the total cost of a given cut represents the energy of the corresponding MRF configuration, where the cost of a cut is the sum of all edges going from S to T across the cut boundary. The method further includes using the values of n(i) in the minimum energy configuration to perform the phase unwrapping from (w) to (t) for the MR image. A confidence may be computed for each voxel using dynamic graph cuts. The unwrapped phase from two MR images acquired at different times may be used to estimate a field map from the phase difference between the two MR images. The field map may be converted into a deformation field which is then used to initialize a non-rigid image registration of the acquired MR image against a reference image. The deformation field of the non-rigid registration is controlled to be smoother where the confidence is high.

To acquire a more accurate tissue contrast image such as a water-fat separation image in time-series imaging by an MM apparatus, a static magnetic field non-uniformity map is created from a plurality of echo signals having different TEs obtained in time series, and a water-fat separation image is obtained using the static magnetic field non-uniformity map. Processing (spatial direction discontinuity correction processing) for correcting discontinuity of a phase or a frequency in a spatial direction and processing (time-series direction discontinuity correction processing) for correcting discontinuity in a time-series direction are performed for the static magnetic field non-uniformity map.