System and method for spiral multislab magnetic resonance imaging

1. A method for controlling a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the method comprising:

directing the MRI system to perform a pulse sequence that, in a given repetition time (TR), includes:

(i) generating a RF excitation pulse to excite spins in a plurality of slice locations within a selected slab to produce an echo train from the selected slab that is formed by a plurality of echoes;

(ii) applying a slice-encoding gradient to spatially encode each of the plurality of echoes associated with a different slice in the selected slab; and

(iii) applying readout gradients during the echo train to acquire MR data from the selected slab, the readout gradients including a first sampling strategy that defines a spiral-in k-space trajectory and a second sampling strategy that defines a spiral-out k-space trajectory;

wherein, for each TR, the MRI system is directed to repeat the pulse sequence such that each of a plurality of subsequent selected slabs is excited and MR data is acquired from each of the plurality of subsequent selected slabs; and

further comprising applying the readout gradients relative to respective refocusing pulses to align each of the plurality of echoes with a center of plane of k-space.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the slice-encoding gradient is configured to generate a non-uniform phase encoding along a selected direction in k-space.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein step iv further includes acquiring calibration data at a center of k-space.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected slab and each of the plurality of subsequent selected slabs are separated along a slice direction by a selected shift value.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transforming data in the MR data acquired from each different slab to corresponding locations along a slice direction of the slab.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing a gridding reconstruction process using the MR data acquired from the selected slab and each of the plurality of subsequent selected slabs.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the gridding reconstruction process includes using a discrete Fourier transform technique.

8. A method for controlling a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the method comprising:

directing the MRI system to perform a pulse sequence that, in a given repetition time (TR), includes:

(i) generating a RF excitation pulse to excite spins in a plurality of slice locations within a selected slab to produce an echo train from the selected slab that is formed by a plurality of echoes;

(ii) applying a slice-encoding gradient to spatially encode each of the plurality of echoes associated with a different slice in the selected slab; and

(iii) applying readout gradients during the echo train to acquire MR data from the selected slab, the readout gradients including a first sampling strategy that defines a spiral-in k-space trajectory and a second sampling strategy that defines a spiral-out k-space trajectory;

wherein, for each TR, the MRI system is directed to repeat the pulse sequence such that each of a plurality of subsequent selected slabs is excited and MR data is acquired from each of the plurality of subsequent selected slabs;

generating a successive plurality of RF refocusing pulses to produce the echo train from the selected slab that is formed by the plurality of echoes; and

applying phase-rewinding gradients along a slice direction after each echo train to restore an accumulated phase before a subsequent one of the RF refocusing pulses.

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

a magnet system configured to generate a polarizing magnetic field about at least a portion of a subject arranged in the MRI system;

a plurality of gradient coils configured to apply a gradient field to the polarizing magnetic field;

a radio frequency (RF) system configured to apply an RF excitation field to a region of interest (ROI) in the subject and acquire MR image data from the ROI; and

a computer system programmed to control the plurality of gradient coils and the RF system to perform a pulse sequence that varies with each repetition time (TR), wherein the pulse sequence for a given TR includes performing the following for a given slab:

(i) applying an RF excitation pulse, using the RF system, to excite spins in a plurality of slice locations within the given slab;

(ii) generating a successive plurality of RF refocusing pulses, using the RF system, to produce an echo train including a plurality of echoes;

(iii) applying a varying slice-encoding gradient, using the plurality of gradient coils, to spatially encode the echo train relative to the slice locations within the given slab; and

(iv) applying readout gradients during the plurality of echoes, using the plurality of gradient coils, to acquire MR data from the given slab, wherein the readout gradients including a first sampling strategy that defines a spiral-in k-space trajectory, and a second sampling strategy that defines a spiral-out k-space trajectory;

wherein for each subsequent TR, a different slab from the given slab in a prior TR is excited to acquire MR data from the different slab using a different spiral-in k-space trajectory and a different spiral-out k-space trajectory.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the pulse sequence further includes applying phase-rewinding gradients along a slice direction to restore an accumulated phase before a subsequent one of the RF refocusing pulses.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein each varying slice-encoding gradient generates a non-uniform phase encoding along a given direction in k-space.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the computer system is further configured to control a timing of the readout gradients relative to the refocusing pulses to align each of the plurality of echoes with a center of a plane of k-space.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein computer system is further configured to perform the readout gradients to acquire calibration data at a center of k-space.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the given slab and each different slab are separated along a slice direction by a shift value.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the computer system is further configured to transform the MR data acquired from each different slab to corresponding locations along a slice direction of the slab.

16. The system of claim 9 , wherein the computer system is further configured to perform a gridding reconstruction process using MR data acquired from the given slab and different slab.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the gridding reconstruction process includes using a discrete Fourier transform technique.

18. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the system comprising:

a magnet system configured to generate a polarizing magnetic field about at least a portion of a subject arranged in the MRI system;

a plurality of gradient coils configured to apply a gradient field to the polarizing magnetic field;

a radio frequency (RF) system configured to apply an RF excitation field to a region of interest (ROI) in the subject and acquire MR image data from the ROI; and

a computer system programmed to control the plurality of gradient coils and the RF system to perform a spin-echo pulse sequence that applies a plurality of RF refocusing pulses and a plurality of readout gradients during each echo train to sample k-space using a spiral-in k-space trajectory and a spiral-out k-space trajectory to fully sample each echo train, wherein each echo train comprises a plurality of echoes, and wherein the application of the readout gradients relative to the refocusing pulses align each of the plurality of echoes with a center of plane of k-space.

19. The MM system of claim 18 , wherein each echo train is centered at an origin of k-space.