Method and apparatus for determination of phase distributions in magnetic resonance imaging

1. A method for generating magnetic resonance (MR) image data representing a region of interest of an examination subject, said method comprising:

operating an MR data acquisition scanner in order to obtain a first measured phase distribution of MR signals acquired from said region of interest, wherein the first measured phase distribution of MR signals is based on a magnetic field distribution that is known a priori in absolute values, and is substantially not object-induces;

providing said first measured phase distribution of the region of interest to a computer and providing said computer with an input designating at least one second phase value of the region of interest;

in said computer, determining a phase difference distribution between said first measured phase distribution and said at least one second phase value in order to generate a combination-phase distribution, wherein phase values of the combination-phase distribution are restricted to a presentation interval;

in said computer, calculating a correction-phase distribution, from the known magnetic field distribution in said scanner in said region of interest, wherein phase values of said correction-phase distribution are not restricted to said presentation interval;

in said computer, generating a corrected combination-phase distribution using the correction-phase distribution and the combination-phase distribution, wherein phase values of the corrected combination-phase distribution are restricted to said presentation interval;

in said computer, generating an absolute combination-phase distribution from the corrected combination-phase distribution using a phase-unwrapping technique, wherein phase values of the absolute combination-phase distribution are not restricted to said predetermined presentation interval; and

in said computer, using said phase values of said absolute combination-phase distribution to reconstruct image data from said MR signals, and using said image data to present a visualization of said region of interest at a display screen.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising generating a corrected absolute combination-phase distribution which is not restricted to said presentation interval, by adding the correction-phase distribution and the absolute combination-phase distribution in order to determine a main magnetic field distribution.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising determining the correction-phase distribution φ korr (r) according to φ korr (r)=γΔB 0 (r)T eff , wherein γ is the gyromagnetic ratio, ΔB 0 (r) is a magnetic field distribution in the region of interest, which is not object-induced, r is the position vector in the region of interest, and T eff is an effective evolution time.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising acquiring said first measured phase distribution by measurement of a phase distribution of an MR image of the region of interest after a first evolution period of nuclear spins in the region of interest.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4 comprising providing said at least one second phase value as a second measured phase distribution of the region of interest.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5 comprising providing the second measured phase distribution as a measurement of a phase distribution of an MR image after a second evolution period of said nuclear spins that is different from said first evolution period.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 comprising providing said at least one second phase value as a definition of a global phase value.

8. A magnetic resonance (MR) apparatus comprising:

an MR data acquisition scanner;

a computer configured to operate said MR data acquisition scanner in order to obtain a first measured phase distribution of MR signals acquired a region of interest, wherein the first measured phase distribution of MR signals is based on a magnetic field distribution that is know a priori in absolute values, and is substantially not object-induced;

said computer being provided with an input designating at least one second phase value of the region of interest;

said computer being configured to determine a phase difference distribution between first measured phase distribution and said at least one second phase value in order to generate a combination-phase distribution, wherein phase values of the combination-phase distribution are restricted to a presentation interval;

said computer being configured to calculate a correction-phase distribution, from the known magnetic field distribution in said scanner in said region of interest, wherein phase values of said correction-phase distribution are not restricted to said presentation interval;

said computer being configured to generate a corrected combination-phase distribution using the correction-phase distribution and the combination-phase distribution, wherein phase values of the corrected combination-phase distribution are restricted to said presentation interval;

said computer being configured to generate an absolute combination-phase distribution from the corrected combination-phase distribution using a phase-unwrapping techinque, wherein phase values of the absolute combination-phase distribution are not restricted to said presentation interval; and

said computer being configured to use said phase values of said absolute combination-phase distribution to reconstruct image data from said MR signals, and to use said image data to present a visualization of said region of interest at a display screen.

9. A non-transitory, computer-readable data storage medium encoded with programming instructions, said storage medium being loaded into a computer system of a magnetic resonance (MR) apparatus comprising an MR data acquisition scanner, said programming instructions causing said computer system to:

operate said MR data acquisition scanner in order to obtain a first measured phase distribution of MR signals acquired from a region of interest, wherein the first measured phase distribution of MR signals is based on a magnetic field distribution that is known a priori in absolute value, and is substantially not object-induced;

receive an input designating at least one second phase value of the region of interest;

determine a phase difference distribution between said first measured phase distribution and said at least one second phase value in order to generate a combination-phase distribution, wherein phase values of the combination-phase distribution are restricted to a presentation interval;

calculate a correction-phase distribution, from the known magnetic field distribution in said scanner in said region of interest, wherein phase values of said correction-phase distribution are not restricted to said presentation interval;

generate a corrected combination-phase distribution using the correction-phase distribution and the combination-phase distribution, wherein phase values of the corrected combination-phase distribution are restricted to said presentation interval;

generate an absolute combination-phase distribution from the corrected combination-phase distribution using a phase-unwrapping technique, wherein phase values of the absolute combination-phase distribution are not restricted to said presentation interval; and

use said phase values of said absolute combination-phase distribution to reconstruct image data from said MR signals, and use said image data to present a visualization of said region of interest at a display screen.