Patent ID: 11874353
Assignee: THE GENERAL HOSPITAL CORPORATION
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 1:
2. A method for producing an image of a subject using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the method comprising:
(a) acquiring k-space data from a slice in a subject using a processor of the MRI system to perform a pulse sequence that includes:
a multi-shot variable flip angle (VFA) radio frequency (RF) excitation that excites spins in the slice and comprises a plurality of different RF excitation pulses each having a flip angle that maximizes measured signals and achieves consistent signal across excitations;
a multi-shot echo planar imaging (EPI) data acquisition that acquires k-space data after each RF excitation pulse by sampling magnetic resonance signals generated by the excited spins in a plurality of different segments of k-space;

(b) reconstructing an image of the subject from the acquired k-space data using the processor; and
(c) storing the image in a storage connected to the MRI system; and
wherein each of the plurality of different RF excitation pulses is recursively designed such that slice profiles of the plurality of different RF excitation pulses are matched for each of the different segments of k-space by designing each RF excitation pulse to account for longitudinal magnetization remaining after each preceding RF excitation pulse.