Magnetic resonance spectroscopy pulse sequence, acquisition, and processing system and method

1. A method for processing a set of multiple serially acquired magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) free induction decay (FID) frames from a multi-frame MRS acquisition series from a region of interest (ROI) in a subject, and for providing a post-processed MRS spectrum, comprising:

associating first and second groups of FID frames within the set with first and second different relative phases, respectively, of a phase step cycle along the MRS acquisition series;

processing the first and second groups separately;

averaging the first and second groups separately to form first and second average interim spectra; and

averaging the first and second average interim spectra.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising performing at least one of phase shift correction, frame editing, and frequency shift correction separately for the first and second groups.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising reducing or removing artifact separately for the first group and the second group.

4. The method of claim 1 , comprising performing frame editing separately for the first and second groups so that a different number of frames are retained in each of the first and second groups.

5. The method claim 1 , further comprising:

performing the method on a number equal to N groups of FID frames, the FID frames comprising similar phasing within each group but different than in other groups;

processing each of the N groups separately;

averaging the FID frames separately within each group;

averaging the group averages together; and

wherein N equals an integer more than two.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the MRS acquisition series comprises a number F of FID frames;

the different relative phases comprise a unique number S of phase steps; and

F divided by S equals N, which comprises a whole number.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ROI comprises a portion of a musculoskeletal joint.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the musculoskeletal joint comprises a spinal joint.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ROI comprises at least a portion of an intervertebral disc.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said MRS acquisition series is acquired from a single voxel positioned within the ROI according to a single voxel spectroscopy pulse sequence.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein said MRS acquisition comprises a multi-voxel spectroscopy acquisition comprising multiple said MRS acquisition series corresponding to each said voxel, and performing the method on each said MRS acquisition series.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing an MRS scanner system; and

acquiring the MRS acquisition series using the MRS scanner system on the subject.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer instructions configured to cause one or more computer processors to perform the method of claim 1 .

14. A system for processing a set of multiple serially acquired magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) free induction decay (FID) frames from a multi-frame MRS acquisition series from a region of interest (ROI) in a subject, and for providing a processed MRS spectrum, the system comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer instructions configured to cause the one or more computer processors to:

access the set of FID frames;

associate first and second groups of FID frames within the set with first and second different relative phases, respectively, of a phase step cycle along the MRS acquisition series;

process the first and second groups separately;

average the first and second groups separately to form first and second average interim spectra; and

average the first and second average interim spectra to provide the processed MRS spectrum.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the computer instructions are configured to cause the one or more computer processors to perform at least one of phase shift correction, frame editing, and frequency shift correction separately for the first and second groups.

16. The system of any claim 14 , where in the computer instructions are configured to cause the one or more computer processors to reduce or remove artifact separately for the first group and the second group.

17. The system of any claim 14 , where in the computer instructions are configured to cause the one or more computer processors to:

perform a first frame editing procedure to exclude a first number of FID frames from the first group of FID frames; and

performing a second frame editing procedure to exclude a second number of FID frames from the second group of FID frames, wherein the first and second frame editing procedures are performed separately to allow the second number of excluded frames to be different from the first number of excluded frame.

18. The system of any claim 14 , wherein the computer instructions are configured to cause the one or more computer processors to:

use a number equal to N groups of FID frames, the FID frames comprising similar phasing within each group but different than in other groups;

process each of the N groups separately;

average the FID frames separately within each group; and

average the group averages together;

wherein N equals an integer more than two.

19. The system of claim 14 , wherein:

the MRS acquisition series comprises a number F of FID frames;

the different relative phases comprise a unique number S of phase steps; and

F divided by S equals N, which comprises a whole number.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer instructions configured to cause one or more computer processors to:

access a set of multiple serially acquired magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) free induction decay (FID) frames from a multi-frame MRS acquisition series from a region of interest (ROI) in a subject;

associate a first subset of the FID frames that have a first relative phase of a phase step cycle along the MRS acquisition series with a first phase group;

associate a second subset of the FID frames that have a second relative phase of the phase step cycle along the MRS acquisition series with a second phase group;

perform a first frame editing procedure on the first phase group by identifying qualified frames of the first subset of the FID frames that meet a threshold criterion, and by identifying one or more unqualified frames of the first set of the FID frames that do not meet the threshold criterion;

perform a second frame editing procedure on the second phase group by identifying qualified frames of the second subset of the FID frames that meet a threshold criterion, and by identifying one or more unqualified frames of the second set of the FID frames that do not meet the threshold criterion;

combine the qualified frames of the first subset of the FID frames, and exclude the unqualified frames, to provide a first phase group spectrum;

combine the qualified frames of the second subset of the FID frames, and exclude the unqualified frames, to provide a second phase group spectrum; and

combine the first phase group spectrum and the second phase group spectrum to provide a processed MRS spectrum.