Methods, systems and apparatuses for rapid segmented, accelerated, and simultaneous multi-slice echo planar imaging

1. A method for accelerated segmented magnetic resonance (MR) image data acquisition, the method comprising:

using a plurality of Radio Frequency (RF) pulses to excite one or more slices of an anatomical area of interest according to a predetermined slice acceleration factor;

acquiring a collapsed image of the one or more slices in response to the plurality of RF pulses, wherein each of the one or more slices is individually acquired using a consecutive segment acquisition process; and

applying a parallel image reconstruction method to the collapsed image to separate the collapsed image into a plurality of slice images.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined slice acceleration factor is greater than 1 and each of the plurality of RF pulses is a multiband RF pulse operable to simultaneously excite the one or more slices of the anatomical area of interest.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the consecutive segment acquisition process applies a varying flip angle sequence across a plurality of consecutive segments of k-space line data representative of a respective slice.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the varying flip angle sequence is a progression of flip angles that maximizes magnetization of a region of the anatomical area of interest corresponding to the respective slice.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the varying flip angle sequence comprises a predetermined low flip angle repeated for each segment included in the respective slice.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

applying one or more dummy pulses prior to acquiring each of the one or more slices.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the consecutive segment acquisition process is integrated with an in-plane accelerated acquisition process applied to the anatomical area of interest.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the parallel image reconstruction method is Slice GRAPPA.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

performing a reference scan of the anatomical area of interest to acquire a plurality of reference slices using the consecutive segment acquisition process; and

using the plurality of reference slices to calibrate the parallel image reconstruction method such that echo-spacing of the plurality of reference slices is matched to accelerated image data corresponding to the collapsed image.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

performing a plurality of additional reference scans of the anatomical area of interest to acquire a plurality of additional reference slices using the consecutive segment acquisition process; and

averaging the plurality of reference slices and the plurality of additional reference scans together to yield a plurality of averaged reference slices,

wherein the parallel image reconstruction method is calibrated using the plurality of averaged reference slices.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

following the reference scan, performing an additional reference scan to acquire one segment of the anatomical area of interest using a high flip angle pulse; and

using the one segment of the anatomical area of interest to calibrate a Slice GRAPPA in-plane kernel used in the parallel image reconstruction method.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

applying an encoding technique to control an aliasing pattern of the collapsed image.

13. A method for accelerated segmented magnetic resonance (MR) image data acquisition, the method comprising:

applying a plurality of RF pulses to excite a plurality of slices of an anatomical area of interest according to a predetermined slice acceleration factor;

performing a slice acquisition process for each respective slice included in the plurality of slices to acquire a collapsed image, the slice acquisition process comprising:

creating a varying flip angle sequence to be applied across a plurality of consecutive segments of k-space line data representative of the respective slice, and

acquiring each segment of k-space line data included in the respective slice using the varying flip angle sequence; and

applying a parallel image reconstruction method to the collapsed image to separate the collapsed image into a plurality of slice images.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the predetermined slice acceleration factor is greater than 1 and each of the plurality of RF pulses is a multiband RF pulse operable to simultaneously excite the plurality of slices of the anatomical area of interest.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

wherein the varying flip angle sequence is a progression of flip angles that maximizes magnetization of a region of the anatomical area of interest located at the respective slice.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the varying flip angle sequence comprises a predetermined low flip angle repeated for each segment of k-space line data included in the respective slice.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

applying one or more dummy pulses prior to the slice acquisition process for each respective slice.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the parallel image reconstruction method is Slice GRAPPA.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:

performing a reference scan of the anatomical area of interest to acquire a plurality of reference slices using the slice acquisition process;

using the plurality of reference slices to calibrate the parallel image reconstruction method such that echo-spacing of the plurality of reference slices is matched to accelerated image data corresponding to the collapsed image.

20. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

applying an encoding technique to control an aliasing pattern of the collapsed image.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the encoding technique comprises a Blipped-Controlled Aliasing in Parallel Imaging technique.

22. A system for performing accelerated segmented magnetic resonance (MR) image data acquisition, the system comprising:

a Radio Frequency (RF) generator configured to use a plurality of RF coils to:

simultaneously excite a plurality of slices of an anatomical area of interest with a plurality of multi-band RF pulses, and

acquire a collapsed image comprising a plurality of acquired slices in response to the plurality of multi-band RF pulses, wherein each of the plurality of acquired slices is individually acquired using a consecutive segment acquisition process; and

an image data processor configured to apply a parallel image reconstruction method to the collapsed image to separate the collapsed image into a plurality of slice images.