Quiet MRI with spin echo (SE) or fast spin echo (FSE)

1. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus comprising:

static and gradient magnetic field generators and at least one radio frequency (RF) coil disposed within said magnetic field generators;

RF transmitter and RF receiver circuits coupled to said at least one RF coil; and

at least one MRI sequence control circuit including a k-space memory and at least one processor configured to control said gradient magnetic field generators and said RF transmitter and receiver circuits during execution of an MRI data acquisition sequence including plural successive TR (repetition time) intervals wherein:

said TR intervals each includes at least one instance of a MRI data acquisition sequence kernel for a spin echo (SE) or fast spin echo (FSE) MRI k-space data acquisition sequence of interrelated RF and gradient magnetic field pulses including a slice select gradient magnetic field Gss that remains at a non-zero amplitude throughout said kernel, including data acquisition readout periods, thereby reducing acoustic noise associated with a slice-select magnetic field.

2. The MRI apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the amplitude of said slice select gradient magnetic field Gss remains sufficiently constant to reduce acoustic noise associated with at least one magnetic gradient coil axis by at least 6 dB compared to acoustic noise generated by an MRI data acquisition sequence wherein Gss transitions to substantially zero amplitude between MR echo data acquisition read out periods.

3. The MRI apparatus as in claim 2 wherein the amplitude of said slice select gradient magnetic field does not change by more than 10% between start and finish of a kernel instance.

4. The MRI apparatus as in claim 3 wherein the slice select gradient magnetic field amplitude is ramped up at the starting of a kernel instance and ramped down and at the ending of a kernel instance over a ramp interval of at least about 1 ms to also reduce acoustic noise associated with the slice select gradient magnetic field if its amplitude is ramped up and down at the starting and ending of a kernel instance.

5. The MRI apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the slice select gradient magnetic field axis is an MRI system gradient magnetic field axis that otherwise generates a relatively greater level of acoustic noise, as compared to another MRI system gradient magnetic field axis, during execution of MRI data acquisition sequences.

6. The MRI apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said MRI data acquisition sequence is a view angle tilting sequence effecting a view tilting angle of less than 20 degrees as defined by tan-1 Gss/GRo, Gss being the amplitude of the slice select gradient magnetic field and GRo being the amplitude of a readout gradient magnetic field.

7. The MRI apparatus as in claim 1 wherein a gradient magnetic field orthogonal to said slice select gradient magnetic field axis also remains at a non-zero amplitude throughout said kernel, including data acquisition read-out periods, thereby further reducing acoustic noise associated with another gradient magnetic field axis.

8. The MRI apparatus as in claim 7 wherein both Gss and GRO gradient magnetic fields are maintained at a substantially constant amplitude throughout each kernel instance while phase-encoding magnetic gradient pulses GPE are successively incremented and applied to acquire MRI data for a plane in k-space that is radially re-oriented from time to time in a paddlewheel fashion of k-space data acquisition by changes in the amplitudes of Gss and/or GRO between at least some kernel instances to acquire 3D MRI data.

9. The MRI apparatus as in claim 1 wherein Gss timing as well as any associated crusher amplitude and/or pre-winder effects are designed to maintain substantially constant Gss amplitude throughout each kernel instance.

10. The MRI apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said at least one processor is further configured to shape transitions in amplitude of at least one gradient magnetic field, other than Gss, that is pulsed in amplitude during each kernel instance, so as to further reduce acoustic noise.

11. A method for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), said method comprising:

controlling MRI gradient magnetic field generators in conjunction with MRI radio frequency (RF) transmitter and receiver circuits during execution of an MRI data acquisition sequence including plural successive TR (repetition time) intervals to execute an MRI data acquisition sequence wherein:

said TR intervals each includes at least one instance of a MRI data acquisition sequence kernel for a spin echo (SE) or fast spin echo (FSE) MRI k-space data acquisition sequence of interrelated RF and gradient magnetic field pulses including a slice select gradient magnetic field Gss that remains at a non-zero amplitude throughout said kernel, including data acquisition readout periods, thereby reducing acoustic noise associated with a slice select gradient magnetic field axis;

acquire MRI data associated with said kernel; and

generate an MRI image from the acquired MRI data.

12. The MRI method as in claim 11 wherein the amplitude of said slice select gradient remains sufficiently constant to reduce acoustic noise associated with at least one magnetic gradient coil axis by at least 6 dB compared to acoustic noise generated by an MRI data acquisition sequence wherein Gss transitions to substantially zero amplitude between MR echo data acquisition read out periods.

13. The MRI method as in claim 12 wherein the amplitude of said slice select gradient does not change by more than 100/0 between start and finish of a kernel instance.

14. The MRI method as in claim 13 wherein the slice select gradient magnetic field amplitude is ramped up at the starting of a kernel instance and ramped down and at the ending of a kernel instance over a ramp interval of at least about 1 ms to also reduce acoustic noise associated with the slice select gradient magnetic field if its amplitude is ramped up and down at the starting and ending of a kernel instance.

15. The MRI method as in claim 11 wherein the slice select gradient magnetic field axis is an MRI system gradient magnetic field axis that otherwise generates a relatively greater level of acoustic noise, as compared to other MRI system gradient magnetic field axes, during execution of MRI data acquisition sequences.

16. The MRI method as in claim 11 wherein said MRI data acquisition sequence is a view angle tilting sequence effecting a view tilting angle of less than 20 degrees as defined by tan-1 Gss/GRo, Gss being the amplitude of the slice select gradient magnetic field and GRo being the amplitude of a readout gradient magnetic field.

17. The MRI method as in claim 11 wherein a gradient magnetic field orthogonal to said slice select gradient magnetic field axis also remains at a non-zero amplitude throughout said kernel, including data acquisition readout periods, thereby further reducing acoustic noise associated with another gradient magnetic field axis.

18. The MRI method as in claim 17 wherein both Gss and GRo gradient magnetic fields are maintained at a substantially constant amplitude throughout each kernel instance while phase-encoding magnetic gradient pulses GPE are successively incremented to acquire MRI data for a plane in kspace that is radially re-oriented from time to time in a paddle-wheel fashion of k-space data acquisition by changes in the amplitudes of Gss and/or GRO between at least some kernel instances to acquire 3D MRI data.

19. The MRI method as in claim 11 wherein Gss timing as well as any associated crusher amplitude and/or pre-winder effects are designed to maintain substantially constant Gss amplitude throughout each kernel instance.

20. The MRI method as in claim 11 further comprising:

shaping of transitions in amplitude of at least one gradient magnetic field, other than Gss, that is pulsed in amplitude during each kernel instance, so as to further reduce acoustic noise.