Patent ID: 8154293

Claim:
An MRI apparatus comprising: a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system having a plurality of gradient coils positioned about a bore of a magnet, and an RF transceiver system and an RF switch controlled by a pulse module to transmit RF signals to an RF coil assembly to acquire MR images; and a computer programmed to: segment acquisition of an echo train into separate odd and even acquisition blades in k-space, wherein the odd and even acquisition blades extend orthogonally through a common reference point in a central region of k-space; acquire a segment of MR data using a quadratic phase modulation scheme, wherein a first set of MR echo signals occurring after odd-numbered RF refocusing pulses are stored in the odd acquisition blade, and a second set of MR echo signals occurring after even-numbered RF refocusing pulses are stored in the even acquisition blade; segment acquisition of at least one subsequent echo train into the odd and even acquisition blades, and rotate the odd and even acquisition blades at a prescribed interval about the common reference point in the central region of k-space; acquire another segment of MR data from the at least one subsequent echo train using the quadratic phase modulation scheme, wherein MR echo signals occurring after odd-numbered RF refocusing pulses are again stored in the odd acquisition blade and wherein MR echo signals occurring after even-numbered RF refocusing pulses are again stored in the even acquisition blade; and reconstruct an image from the acquisition blades.