Systems and methods for shim current calculation

1. A method of shimming a magnetic resonance (MR) magnet of an MR imaging system, comprising:

receiving a forward spatial encoding polarity magnetic resonance coil image and a reverse spatial encoding polarity MR coil image, the reverse spatial encoding polarity MR coil image being generated from data obtained with a magnetic field gradient that is reversed with respect to the magnetic field gradient with which the forward spatial encoding polarity MR coil image is acquired;

performing an iterative shift map calculation algorithm in order to determine a pixel shift map based in part on the forward spatial encoding polarity MR coil image, the reverse spatial encoding polarity MR image, and a cost function quantifying pixel displacements between the forward and reverse spatial encoding polarity MR coil images in order to stabilize at least linear first and second order spatial features of the pixel shift map;

converting the pixel shift map into a magnetic field shift map by determining a magnetic field value corresponding to each pixel in the pixel shift map; and

providing the magnetic field shift map as an input to a shim calculation process in order to determine a level of at least one shim current passed through at least one shim coil in order to shim the MR magnet.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising iteratively performing the iterative shift map calculation algorithm until one or more low order features of the pixel shift map substantially stabilize.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the magnetic field value corresponding to each pixel in the pixel shift map pixel is based on echo spacing utilized in echo planar imaging scans performed in order to generate the data corresponding to the forward spatial encoding polarity MR coil image and the reverse spatial encoding polarity MR coil image.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shim calculation process comprises a linear shim calculation.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shim calculation process comprises a high order shim calculation.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising performing a distortion correction algorithm on the forward and reverse spatial encoding polarity MR coil images before performing the iterative shift map calculation algorithm.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shim calculation process comprises computing at least one shim coefficient.

8. The method of claim 7 , comprising performing the iterative shift map calculation algorithm until the at least one shim coefficient substantially stabilizes.

9. A magnetic resonance (MR) imaging system, comprising:

an imager comprising an MR magnet and being configured to acquire a forward spatial encoding polarity MR coil image and a reverse spatial encoding polarity MR coil image, the reverse spatial encoding polarity MR coil image being generated from data obtained with a magnetic field gradient that is reversed with respect to the magnetic field gradient with which the forward spatial encoding polarity MR coil image is acquired; and

control circuitry configured to receive the forward spatial encoding polarity MR image and the reverse spatial encoding polarity MR image from the imager and to:

perform an iterative shift map calculation algorithm in order to determine a pixel shift map based in part on the forward spatial encoding polarity MR coil image, the reverse spatial encoding polarity MR coil image, and a cost function quantifying pixel displacements between the forward and the reverse spatial encoding polarity MR coil images in order to stabilize at least linear first and second order spatial features of the pixel shift map;

convert the pixel shift map into a magnetic field shift map by determining a magnetic field value corresponding to each pixel in the pixel shift map; and

perform a shim calculation process utilizing the magnetic field shift map as an input in order to determine a level of a shim current passed through a shim coil of the imager in order to shim the MR magnet.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the imager comprises a shim coil current supplier configured to supply the shim coil with the shim current.

11. The MR imaging system of claim 9 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to perform a distortion correction algorithm on the forward and reverse spatial encoding polarity MR coil images before determining the pixel shift map.

12. The MR imaging system of claim 9 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to perform the iterative shift map calculation algorithm until one or more low order features of the pixel shift map substantially stabilize.

13. The MR imaging system of claim 9 , wherein the forward spatial encoding polarity MR coil image and the reverse spatial encoding polarity MR coil image are acquired via an echo planar imaging process.

14. The MR imaging system of claim 13 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine the magnetic field value corresponding to each pixel in the pixel shift map pixel based on echo spacing utilized in the echo planar imaging process performed to generate the data corresponding to the forward spatial encoding polarity MR coil image and the reverse spatial encoding polarity MR coil image.

15. One or more tangible, non-transitory machine-readable media comprising instructions that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

perform an iterative shift map calculation algorithm in order to determine a pixel shift map based in part on a forward spatial encoding polarity magnetic resonance (MR) coil image, a reverse spatial encoding polarity MR coil image, and a cost function quantifying pixel displacements between the forward and reverse spatial encoding polarity MR coil images in order to stabilize at least linear first and second order spatial features of the pixel shift map, wherein the reverse spatial encoding polarity MR coil image is generated from data obtained with a magnetic field gradient that is reversed with respect to the magnetic field gradient with which the forward spatial encoding polarity MR coil image is acquired;

convert the pixel shift map into a magnetic field shift map by determining a magnetic field value corresponding to each pixel in the pixel shift map; and

perform a shim calculation process utilizing the magnetic field shift map as an input in order to determine a level of a shim current passed through a shim coil of an MR imager in order to shim an MR magnet of the MR imager.

16. The one or more tangible, non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the shim calculation process comprises a linear shim calculation.

17. The one or more tangible, non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the shim calculation process comprises a high order shim calculation.

18. The one or more tangible, non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a distortion correction algorithm on the forward and reverse spatial encoding polarity MR coil images before determining the pixel shift map.