Systems and methods for fast and robust quantification of magnetization transfer (MT) use off-resonance spin-lock MRI with as few as two or three image acquisitions. Each image acquisition can be performed using an off-resonance spin-lock pulse having a different RF amplitude and frequency offset. A parameter representing the difference of the relaxation rate in the rotating frame between the acquisitions can be computed. This parameter can be used to compute other parameters of magnetization transfer.

An MRI apparatus according to an embodiment includes sequence controlling circuitry, in a first transition period, repeating application of a first MT pulse and acquisition of a first MR signal to a first frequency region being a part of a k-space; in the first steady state, repeating application of the first MT pulse and acquisition of a second MR signal to a second frequency region of the k-space, frequency in second frequency region being lower than frequency in the first frequency region; and in a second transition period, repeating application of a second MT pulse and acquisition of a third MR signal to a third frequency region being another part of the k-space, frequency in the third frequency region being higher than the frequency in the second frequency region, and processing circuitry generating one MR image on basis of the first, second, and third MR signal.

A method of operating a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus includes exciting a body coil of the MRI apparatus to emit a radio-frequency signal, determining a center frequency of a resonance curve of the body coil, and calculating a magnet target frequency based on the determined center frequency. A magnet is ramped to the magnet target frequency.

According to one embodiment, a MRI apparatus includes an RF coil apparatus receiving MR signals by coil elements corresponding to channels, modurating the MR signals to have different frequencies for each of the channels, and outputting an analog multiplexed signal in which the MR signals with different frequencies are composited over the channels, and a receiver including ADC circuitry converting the analog multiplexed signal to a digital multiplexed signal, and predetermined number of separation channels separating the digital multiplexed signal, based on the number of the channels relating to composition of the MR signals with the different frequencies. The receiver stops a separation process of the digital multiplexed signal for separation channels not used in the separation process among the predetermined number of separation channels.

The present invention relates to a method for acquiring data for acquiring an arteriogram and a venogram of magnetic resonance imaging, the method: using one or more echo; and simultaneously acquiring, through one-time photography, an arteriogram and a venogram, which are optimized according to the number of slabs or improving connectivity of a slab boundary part of the arteriogram.

A method of operating a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus includes exciting a body coil of the MRI apparatus to emit a radio-frequency signal, determining a center frequency of a resonance curve of the body coil, and calculating a magnet target frequency based on the determined center frequency. A magnet is ramped to the magnet target frequency.

It is an integrative platform for visualization, preprocessing and quantitation of MRS data acquired using single voxel, multi voxel magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging (MRSI) and MEshcher-GArwood Point-RESolved Spectroscopy (MEGA-PRESS) acquisition methods. The method integrates both time- and frequency-domain signal processing methods on a single platform. The method is optimized for proton (.sup.1H) and phosphorous (.sup.31P) MRS data. It employs the use of iterative baseline estimation and fitting procedure to provide improved quantitation accuracy. The method can be used in both interactive and automatic mode to cater to the needs of researchers and clinicians.

A method for controlling a magnetic resonance imaging system, including: selecting a plurality of spatially non-selective initial RF-pulses each having a predefined pulse shape and a predefined frequency; determining a combined RF-pulse from the initial RF-pulses by choosing a time-offset comprising a relative application time-shift between the initial RF-pulses, wherein this time-offset is chosen such that the initial RF-pulses overlap; and including the combined RF pulse in a pulse sequence applied in a magnetic resonance imaging system.

Systems and methods for magnetic resonance imaging (“MRI”) of multiple different nuclear spin species using the same radio frequency (“RF”) coil are described. Generally, multiple different nuclear spin species are imaged using the same RF coil by using an MRI system whose magnetic field can be rapidly ramped between a number of different, and arbitrary, magnetic field strengths. The magnetic field of this MRI system can be ramped to different values in reasonable amounts of time (e.g., in a time frame that is feasible within an imaging study).

A method of operating a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus includes exciting a body coil of the MRI apparatus to emit a radio-frequency signal, determining a center frequency of a resonance curve of the body coil, and calculating a magnet target frequency based on the determined center frequency. A magnet is ramped to the magnet target frequency.