METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PATIENT-SPECIFIC B1 FIELD SHIMMING IN MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING SYSTEMS

1 . A method for performing patient-specific B1 field shimming in a magnetic resonance imaging system, comprising:

obtaining patient information of a patient to be imaged by the magnetic resonance imaging system;

determining an orientation of a projection based on the obtained patient information;

acquiring B1 projection data, using the magnetic resonance imaging system, along the determined orientation of the projection; and

determining a set of B1 shimming parameters based on the acquired B1 projection data.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

controlling the magnetic resonance imaging system based on the determined set of B1 shimming parameters.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining the orientation further comprises:

extracting, from the patient information, a specific imaging anatomy, and

obtaining, from a first look-up table, using the extracted imaging anatomy as a key, the orientation of the projection, and

the acquiring step further comprises:

generating gradient signals based on the obtained orientation of the projection, and

applying the generated gradient signals to gradient coil drivers of the magnetic resonance imaging system.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

determining B1 field distributions corresponding to different particular imaging anatomies, respectively;

performing principal component analysis on each of the determined B1 field distributions;

identifying, based on a result of the principal component analysis, a characteristic projection for each of the determined B1 field distributions; and

storing the identified characteristic projections and the corresponding imaging anatomies as matched pairs in the first look-up table.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of determining the B1 field distributions further comprises determining the B1 field distributions based on data collected in a physics simulation, a phantom experiment, an in vivo experiment, and/or a clinical procedure conducted on a patient.

6 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the step of determining the set of B1 shimming parameters further comprises:

extracting, from the patient information, a specific physical feature;

obtaining, from a second look-up table, a B1 field distribution, wherein a particular physical feature related to the B1 field distribution matches the extracted physical feature, and particular projection data related to the B1 field distribution matches the acquired projection data; and

determining a particular set of B1 shimming parameters related to the obtained B1 field distribution to be the determined set of B1 shimming parameters.

7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

determining B1 field distributions for different corresponding physical features, respectively;

generating corresponding projection data for each of the determined B1 field distributions;

determining a corresponding set of B1 shimming parameters for each of the determined B1 field distributions; and

storing the determined B1 field distributions in the second look-up table, wherein each of the determined B1 field distributions is stored in association with the corresponding physical feature, the corresponding projection data, and the corresponding set of B1 shimming parameters.

8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the extracted physical feature includes at least one of a dimensional scale of the imaging anatomy, an aspect ratio of the imaging anatomy, a body fat composition of the patient, a gender of the patient, and an age of the patient.

9 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the step of determining the set of B1 shimming parameters further comprises:

extracting, from the patient information, a specific physical feature;

applying the extracted physical feature and the acquired projection data to a trained neural network; and

determining the set of B1 shimming parameters from outputs of the neural network.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining B1 field distributions for different corresponding physical features, respectively;

generating corresponding projection data for each of the determined B1 field distributions;

determining a corresponding set of B1 shimming parameters for each of the determined B1 field distributions; and

using the determined B1 field distributions, the corresponding physical features, the corresponding projection data, and the corresponding sets of B1 shimming parameters as training data to train the neural network.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining the set of B1 shimming parameters further comprises:

receiving, along the determined orientation of the projection, B1 projection data corresponding to each of a plurality of sets of B1 shimming parameters, respectively;

calculating, based on the received B1 projection data, a cost function score corresponding to each of the plurality of sets of B1 shimming parameters, respectively;

identifying a particular set of B1 shimming parameters which corresponds to a lowest cost function score; and

determining the identified particular set of B1 shimming parameters to be the determined set of B1 shimming parameters.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of determining the orientation of the projection further comprises determining a first orientation of the projection and a second orientation of the projection,

the step of receiving the B1 projection data further comprises:

receiving, along the first orientation of the projection, first B1 projection data corresponding to each of the plurality of sets of B1 shimming parameters, respectively, and

receiving, along the second orientation of the projection, second B1 projection data corresponding to each of the plurality of sets of B1 shimming parameters, respectively, and

the step of calculating the cost function score further comprises:

calculating, for each of the plurality of sets of B1 shimming parameters, the cost function score based on the received first B1 projection data with respect to the first orientation of the projection and the received second B1 projection data with respect to the second orientation of the projection.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of calculating the cost function score further comprises calculating, for each of the plurality of sets of B1 shimming parameters, the cost function score based on the received B1 projection data and target B1 projection data.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining the set of B1 shimming parameters further comprises:

controlling a set of B1 shimming parameters to switch ON each of individual transmit channels in an RF transmitter of the magnetic resonance imaging system, with other transmit channels switched OFF;

receiving particular B1 projection data acquired with each of the individual transmit channels switched ON, respectively;

analyzing the received particular B1 projection data to evaluate an effect of each of the individual transmit channels on a symmetry of a profile of the B1 projection data;

calculating a particular set of B1 shimming parameters that maximizes the symmetry of the profile of the B1 projection data; and

determining the calculated particular set of B1 shimming parameters to be the determined set of B1 shimming parameters.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the step of determining the orientation further comprises determining the orientation such that the profile of the B1 projection data acquired along the determined orientation has minimum symmetry.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of B1 shimming parameters includes an RF amplitude modulation and an RF phase modulation to be applied to RF transmit channels of an RF transmitter of the magnetic resonance imaging system.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the acquiring step further comprises acquiring the projection data using a Bloch-Siegert Shift method, a Double Angle method, an Actual Flip Angle method, a Dual Refocusing Echo Acquisition Mode method, a Phase Sensitive method, or a Saturation Recovery method.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the acquiring step further comprises performing 2D spatial selection to select a portion within a volume of the patient along the determined orientation of the projection.

19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the acquiring step further comprises performing more than one readout per excitation to acquire more than one projection per repetition time.

20 . An apparatus for performing patient-specific B1 field shimming in a magnetic resonance imaging system, the apparatus comprising:

processing circuitry configured to

obtain patient information of a patient to be imaged by the magnetic resonance imaging system;

determine an orientation of a projection based on the obtained patient information;

acquire B1 projection data, using the magnetic resonance imaging system, along the determined orientation of the projection; and

determine a set of B1 shimming parameters based on the acquired B1 projection data.