阅读说明：本技术 用于获取磁共振成像数据的方法和磁共振成像系统 (Method for acquiring magnetic resonance imaging data and magnetic resonance imaging system ) 是由 曹楠 赖永传 路鹏飞 于 2019-04-24 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明的实施例提供一种磁共振成像系统以及一种用于获取磁共振成像数据的方法。该方法包括：在成像序列的任一重复时间开始前,施加脂肪抑制脉冲；在所述重复时间内执行多次回波,其中在所述多次回波中的每次回波期间获取水和脂肪同相位时的第一图像数据以及水和脂肪反相位时的第二图像数据；以及,根据所述第一图像数据和第二图像数据获取脂肪抑制图像数据。(Embodiments of the invention provide a magnetic resonance imaging system and a method for acquiring magnetic resonance imaging data. The method comprises the following steps: applying a fat suppression pulse prior to the start of any repetition time of the imaging sequence; performing multiple echoes over the repetition time, wherein first image data is acquired during each echo of the multiple echoes when water and fat are in phase and second image data is acquired when water and fat are in anti-phase; and acquiring fat-suppressed image data from the first image data and the second image data.)

1. A method for acquiring magnetic resonance imaging data, comprising:

applying a fat suppression pulse prior to the start of any repetition time of the imaging sequence;

performing multiple echoes over the repetition time, wherein first image data is acquired during each echo of the multiple echoes when water and fat are in phase and second image data is acquired when water and fat are in anti-phase;

fat suppression image data is acquired from the first image data and the second image data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the chemical shift directions in the first image data and the second image data acquired during each echo are opposite.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein during each echo, a first gradient read pulse is applied to acquire the first image data when water and fat are in phase, and a second gradient read pulse is applied to acquire the second image data when water and fat are in anti-phase, wherein the first and second gradient read pulses are in opposite directions.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first gradient read pulse and the second gradient read pulse are applied continuously.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a first gradient pulse is applied once during each echo and a second gradient pulse is applied twice before and after the first gradient pulse, respectively.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining fat suppressed image data from the first and second image data comprises:

and acquiring fat-suppressed image data according to the first image data and average image data of the two second image data respectively obtained when the two second gradient pulses are applied.

7. A magnetic resonance imaging system comprising:

A scanner for acquiring data of an imaging subject;

a controller unit coupled to the scanner and configured to control the scanner to perform an imaging sequence, wherein: applying a fat suppression pulse prior to the start of any repetition time of the imaging sequence; performing multiple echoes over the repetition time, wherein first image data is acquired during each echo of the multiple echoes when water and fat are in phase and second image data is acquired when water and fat are in anti-phase; and the number of the first and second groups,

a data processing unit for acquiring fat suppressed image data from the first and second image data.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the chemical shift directions in the first image data and the second image data acquired during each echo are opposite.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein during each echo, the controller unit controls the scanner to apply a first gradient read pulse to acquire the first image data when water and fat are in phase and to apply a second gradient read pulse to acquire the second image data when water and fat are in anti-phase, wherein the first gradient read pulse and the second gradient read pulse are in opposite directions.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first gradient read pulse and the second gradient read pulse are applied continuously.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the controller unit controls the scanner to apply a first gradient pulse once during each echo and to apply a second gradient pulse two times before and after the first gradient pulse, respectively.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the data processing unit is to:

the data processing unit is used for acquiring average image data of two second image data respectively obtained when the second gradient pulse is applied twice, and acquiring fat suppression image data according to the first image data and the average image data.

Technical Field

The disclosed embodiments relate to medical imaging technology, and more particularly to a method and a magnetic resonance imaging system for acquiring magnetic resonance imaging data.

Background

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a medical imaging modality, can obtain images of a human body without the use of X-rays or other ionizing radiation. MRI uses a magnet with a strong magnetic field to generate a static magnetic field B0. When a part of a human body to be imaged is positioned in the static magnetic field B0, the nuclear spins associated with the hydrogen nuclei in the human tissue produce polarization, so that the tissue of the part to be imaged macroscopically produces a longitudinal magnetization vector. When a radio-frequency field B1 is applied, which intersects the direction of the static magnetic field B0, the direction of rotation of the protons changes, so that the tissue of the region to be imaged macroscopically generates a transverse magnetization vector. After the radio frequency field B1 is removed, the transverse magnetization vector decays in a spiral shape until it returns to zero, a free induction decay signal is generated during the decay process, the free induction decay signal can be acquired as a magnetic resonance signal, and a tissue image of the region to be imaged can be reconstructed based on the acquired signal.

The precession frequencies of protons in water and fat in human tissue are different, chemical shift artifacts are generated when magnetic resonance imaging is carried out, and in order to remove the chemical shift artifacts or other artifacts caused by fat tissue or meet some specific clinical diagnosis requirements, various fat suppression methods are proposed in the prior art, but ideal water tissue images are still difficult to obtain, especially in the case that a static magnetic field B0 or a radio frequency field B1 is not uniform enough.

Although the prior art proposes an improved fat suppression method, i.e. acquiring image data with water and adipose tissue in phase during one repetition time of an imaging sequence, and acquiring image data with water and adipose tissue in opposite phase during another repetition time of the imaging sequence, and then obtaining image data of pure water by an image processing algorithm. Although the method can acquire the water tissue image with better image quality, the method needs two times of repetition to acquire the required image, so that the scanning time is longer, and the method is not beneficial to saving the flow.

Therefore, there is a need to provide a new method for acquiring magnetic resonance imaging data, which can acquire images with a shorter scan time and effectively remove various artifacts due to chemical shift in the images.

Disclosure of Invention

One embodiment of the present invention provides a method for acquiring magnetic resonance imaging data, comprising: applying a fat suppression pulse prior to the start of any repetition time of the imaging sequence; performing multiple echoes over the repetition time, wherein first image data is acquired during each echo of the multiple echoes when water and fat are in phase and second image data is acquired when water and fat are in anti-phase; and acquiring fat-suppressed image data from the first image data and the second image data.

One embodiment of the present invention provides a magnetic resonance imaging system comprising: a scanner for acquiring data of an imaging subject; a controller unit coupled to the scanner and configured to control the scanner to perform an imaging sequence, wherein: applying a fat suppression pulse prior to the start of any repetition time of the imaging sequence; performing multiple echoes over the repetition time, wherein first image data is acquired during each echo of the multiple echoes when water and fat are in phase and second image data is acquired when water and fat are in anti-phase; and a data processing unit for acquiring fat-suppressed image data from the first image data and the second image data.

It should be understood that the brief description above is provided to introduce in simplified form some concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any section of this disclosure.

Drawings

The invention will be better understood by reading the following description of non-limiting embodiments, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

figure 1 is a block diagram of a magnetic resonance imaging system according to an embodiment.

Figure 2 is a flow diagram of a method of acquiring magnetic resonance image data according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of analysis of first image data and second image data with opposite chemical shift directions.

FIG. 4 is an example of an imaging sequence for use in the method of FIG. 2, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of acquiring magnetic resonance imaging data based on the MRI system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a set of images of human tissue obtained using a prior art fat suppression technique.

Fig. 7 and 8 are a set of human tissue images obtained by the method of the embodiment of the invention, respectively.

Detailed Description

Various embodiments described below include a method of acquiring data from an imaging subject (e.g., a human body) by an imaging system, such as a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system in fig. 1, by which an image obtained by image reconstruction based on the data has a better fat suppression effect, for example, reduction of artifacts due to fat signals, such as chemical shift artifacts, chemical shift edge artifacts, and the like.

Fig. 2 shows a flow diagram of a method of acquiring medical image data according to an embodiment. As shown in fig. 2, the method includes steps S21, S22, and S23.

In step S21, a fat suppression pulse is applied before the start of any repetition time of the imaging sequence.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above-described imaging sequence refers to a combination of pulses of particular amplitude, width, direction, and timing, which may include, for example, radio frequency pulses and gradient pulses, applied when performing MRI. The radio frequency pulses may comprise, for example, radio frequency excitation pulses for exciting protons in the body to resonate, and the gradient pulses may comprise, for example, slice selection gradient pulses, phase encoding gradient pulses, frequency encoding gradient pulses, or the like. In one embodiment, the repetition time refers to the time interval between two adjacent radio frequency excitation pulses of the imaging sequence.

In step S22, multiple echoes are performed within the repetition time, wherein first image data when water and fat are in phase and second image data when water and fat are in anti-phase are acquired during each of the multiple echoes.

In step S23, fat suppression image data is acquired from the first image data and the second image data.

In the embodiment of the invention, the fat suppression pulse is applied before the repetition time, so that the fat tissue signal is suppressed or the intensity is reduced during the repetition time, thereby generating no or generating weaker fat tissue magnetic resonance signal, and further, by acquiring the first image data when the water and the fat are in phase and the second image data when the water and the fat are in opposite phase in the same repetition time, the acquisition of the two data can be realized in a shorter time, and the image data which suppresses one tissue can be acquired according to the two data, thereby achieving better artifact removal effect without increasing the scanning time.

In one embodiment, during each echo, a first gradient read pulse is applied to acquire the first image data when water and fat are in phase, and a second gradient read pulse is applied to acquire the second image data when water and fat are in anti-phase. The gradient read pulses described above, i.e. the frequency encoding gradient pulses, are responsive to which magnetic resonance signals with position information can be acquired.

Further, the chemical shift directions in the first image data and the second image data acquired during each echo are opposite. In this way, chemical shift edge artifacts can be further removed. Since the chemical shift of water and fat tissue causes the fat tissue in the image to shift to one side, when two kinds of image data are acquired at the same repetition time, the edge portion of the imaging portion in the image is caused to have a bright signal on one side and a dark signal on the other side. By way of example in fig. 3, by reversing the chemical shift direction so that there is a water signal and a fat signal on each side edge (e.g., (W + F)/2 instead of (F + F)/2 on the left of the data and (W-F)/2 instead of (W-W)/2 on the right of the data), the difference in brightness of the edges is reduced, making the image more uniform.

For example, the fat-suppressed image data can be obtained by the following equations (1) to (3).

I1＝F1+W+F+W2 (1)

I2＝W1+W-F-F2 (2)

I3＝(I1+I2)/2＝(F1+W1)/2+2*W/2+(W2-F2)/2 (3)

Wherein I1 and I2 are first image data and second image data, respectively, and I3 is water tissue image data after suppressing fat tissue; w represents the water tissue signal at the middle region of the image; f represents the adipose tissue signal at the middle region of the image; w1, W2 represent water tissue signals at the edges of two sides (e.g., left and right) of the image, respectively; f1, F2 represent the adipose tissue signals at the edges of the two sides (e.g., left and right) of the image, respectively.

And because the fat suppression pulse is applied before the repetition time, the fat signals F1 and F2 are extremely low under the condition that the fat tissue signal intensity is extremely low, and at the moment, I3 is approximately equal to W1/2+ W + W2/2, therefore, an image with higher quality can be obtained, wherein the fat suppression effect is better, and chemical shift artifacts, chemical shift edge artifacts and other image problems caused by the fat signals are effectively removed.

In one embodiment, the first gradient read pulse and the second gradient read pulse may be reversed in direction to reverse the chemical shift direction in the first image data and the second image data.

Further, the first gradient read pulse and the second gradient read pulse are continuously applied. The design can realize that the first image data and the second image data are obtained simultaneously in one echo period, and the scanning time is reduced.

Further, a first gradient read pulse is applied once during each echo and a second gradient read pulse is applied twice before and after the first gradient read pulse, respectively. By the symmetrical mode, the balance of the read gradient area can be ensured, the first image data and the second image data can be simultaneously acquired in one echo period, and the scanning time is reduced.

When two second image data acquired by the second gradient read pulse are applied twice during each echo, the fat-suppressed image data is acquired from the first image data and the average image data of the two second image data acquired when the two second gradient pulses are applied, respectively, and specifically, the second image data I2 mentioned in the above equations (1) and (3) is obtained by performing data averaging processing on the image data acquired under two sets of the same gradient read pulse.

Fig. 4 is an example of an imaging sequence for the above method, showing at least a partial sequence waveform of at least one repetition time of the imaging sequence, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 4, the imaging sequence includes a fat suppression pulse P41 applied before any repetition time TR, and within the repetition time TR, after the end of the applied radio frequency excitation pulse P42, gradient read pulses P43, P44, and P45 are sequentially applied, wherein the amplitudes and widths of the gradient read pulses P43, P44, and P45 are preferably the same, and the direction of the gradient read pulse P44 is opposite to the directions of the gradient read pulses P43 and P45. The gradient read pulse P44 may be applied as the first gradient pulse when water and fat are in phase, and the gradient read pulses PP43 and P45 may be applied as the second gradient pulses when water and fat are in opposite phase.

The imaging sequence of this example may also contain other pulses that may be located, for example, between any two adjacent pulses in fig. 3, such as a radio frequency refocusing pulse P46 applied after the end of the radio frequency excitation pulse P41. The present example is merely for explaining the timing relationship among the pulses shown in fig. 3 per se, and does not limit the timing relationship among these pulses and other pulses not shown.

In the above example, the rf excitation pulse may be, for example, a 90-degree rf pulse, and the fat suppression pulse may be one or more of a frequency selective suppression pulse, a spatial pre-saturation pulse, an inversion fat suppression pulse, or an adiabatic pulse.

Fig. 4 shows only one form of imaging sequence that can be applied to the above method, which is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

The above-described method of acquiring magnetic resonance image data may be implemented by, for example, a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system 1 shown in fig. 1, and in other embodiments, the above-described MRI system 1 is described as an example only, and in other embodiments, the MRI system 1 may have various conversion forms as long as image data can be acquired from an imaging subject.

As shown in fig. 1, the MRI system 1 includes at least: a scanner 10, a controller unit 20 and a data processing unit 30. The scanner 10 may be used to acquire data of an imaging subject. The controller unit 20 is coupled to the scanner 11 for controlling the operation of the scanner 10, for example, controlling the scanner 10 to perform the above steps S21 to S22, wherein: applying a fat suppression pulse prior to the start of any repetition time of the imaging sequence; a plurality of echoes are performed within the repetition time, wherein first image data when water and fat are in phase and second image data when water and fat are in anti-phase are acquired during each echo of the plurality of echoes. The data processing unit 30 may be configured to acquire fat suppressed image data from the first image data and the second image data.

In one example, the scanner 10 may include components disposed between the scanner and the device, for example, the scanner 10 includes a main magnet 11, an RF transmit coil 12, a radio frequency generator 13, a gradient coil system 17, a gradient coil driver 18, and an RF receive coil 19.

The main magnet 11 typically comprises, for example, an annular superconducting magnet mounted within an annular vacuum vessel. The annular superconducting magnet defines a cylindrical space surrounding the object 100. And generates a constant static magnetic field, such as static magnetic field B0, in the Z direction of the cylindrical space. The MRI system 1 transmits a static magnetic pulse signal to the subject 16 placed in the imaging space using the formed static magnetic field B0, so that the precession of protons within the body of the subject 16 is ordered, generating a longitudinal magnetization vector.

The radio frequency generator 13 is for generating radio frequency pulses, which may comprise radio frequency excitation pulses, which are amplified by, for example, a radio frequency power amplifier (not shown) and applied to the RF transmit coil 12 such that the RF transmit coil 12 transmits an RF magnetic field B1 orthogonal to the static magnetic field B0 to the subject 16 to excite nuclei within the subject 16, the longitudinal magnetization vector being converted into a transverse magnetization vector.

When the rf excitation pulse ends, free induction decay signals, i.e., magnetic resonance signals that can be acquired, are generated during the process of gradually returning the transverse magnetization vector of the subject 16 to zero.

The radio frequency pulses may also comprise pulses having other functions, such as radio frequency pulses for suppressing specific tissue signals, more specifically, for example fat suppression pulses, when the fat suppression pulses are applied before the application of the radio frequency excitation pulses, the fat tissue is not excited after the application of the radio frequency excitation pulses, and thus the acquired magnetic resonance signals contain no fat tissue signals or only small fat tissue signals.

The radio frequency generator 13 may be adapted to generate the above-mentioned radio frequency excitation pulses or fat suppression pulses in response to an imaging sequence control signal issued by the controller unit 20.

In one embodiment, the RF transmit coil 12 may be a body coil that may be connected to a transmit/receive (T/R) switch (not shown) that is controlled to switch the body coil between transmit and receive modes in which the body coil may be used to receive magnetic resonance signals from the subject 16.

The scanner 10 may further include a gradient coil system 17 and a gradient driver 18, the gradient coil system 17 forming gradient magnetic fields in the imaging space to provide three-dimensional positional information for the magnetic resonance signals. The magnetic resonance signals may be received by the RF receive coil 19 or the body coil in the receive mode, and the data processing unit 30 may process the received magnetic resonance signals to obtain a desired image or image data.

In particular, the gradient coil system 17 may include three gradient coils, each of which generates a gradient magnetic field that is tilted into one of three spatial axes (e.g., X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis) that are perpendicular to each other, and generates a gradient field in each of a slice selection direction, a phase encoding direction, and a frequency encoding direction according to imaging conditions. More specifically, the gradient coil system 17 applies a gradient field in a slice selection direction of the subject 16 in order to select a slice; and the RF transmit coil 12 transmits RF excitation pulses to and excites selected slices of the subject 16. The gradient coil system 17 also applies gradient fields in the phase encoding direction of the object 16 in order to phase encode the magnetic resonance signals of the excited slices. The gradient coil system 17 then applies a gradient field in the frequency encoding direction of the object 16 in order to frequency encode the magnetic resonance signals of the excited slices.

The gradient coil driver 18 is adapted to supply the three gradient coils with respective suitable power signals in response to sequence control signals issued by the controller unit 30.

The scanner 10 may further comprise a data acquisition unit 14 for acquiring magnetic resonance signals received by the RF surface coil 19 or the body coil, which data acquisition unit 14 may comprise, for example, a radio frequency preamplifier (not shown) for amplifying the magnetic resonance signals received by the RF surface coil 19 or the body coil, a phase detector (not shown) for phase detecting the amplified magnetic resonance signals, and an analog/digital converter (not shown) for converting the phase detected magnetic resonance signals from analog signals to digital signals.

The digitized magnetic resonance signals may be processed by an operation, reconstruction, and the like via the data processing unit 30. The data processing unit 30 may include a computer and a storage medium on which a program of predetermined data processing to be executed by the computer is recorded. The data processing unit 30 may be connected to the controller unit 20, and performs data processing based on a control signal received from the controller unit 20. The data processing unit 30 may also be connected to the data acquisition unit 14 to receive the magnetic resonance signals output by the data acquisition unit 14 in order to perform the above-mentioned data processing.

The controller unit 20 may include a computer and a storage medium for storing a program executable by the computer, and when the program is executed by the computer, may cause the various components of the scanner 11 to carry out operations corresponding to the imaging sequence described above. It is also possible to cause the data processing unit 30 to execute predetermined data processing.

The storage medium of the controller unit 20 and the data processing unit 30 may include, for example, a ROM, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, or a nonvolatile memory card.

The MRI system 1 further comprises a table 40 for placing the object 16 thereon. The subject 16 may be moved into or out of the imaging space by the moving table 26 based on a control signal from the controller unit 20.

The MRI system 1 further includes an operation console 50 connected to the controller unit 20, the operation console 50 may be disposed between operations or a scanning room, and the controller unit 20 is configured to receive and process operation signals input to the operation console 50 and control operation states of the above-described components such as the table 40 and the scanner 10 based on the operation signals. The operating signals may include, for example, scan protocols, parameters, etc. selected by manual or automatic means, which may include the imaging sequences described above. The controller unit 20 also controls the data processing unit 30 based on an operation signal received from the operation console 50 so as to obtain a desired image.

The operation console 50 may include a user input device, such as a keyboard and a mouse, through which an operator can input operation signals/control signals to the controller unit 20.

The MRI system 1 may further comprise a display unit 60, which may be connected to the operation console 50 for displaying an operation interface, and may also be connected to the data processing unit 30 for displaying images.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of acquiring magnetic resonance imaging data based on the MRI system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In step S501, in response to an operation signal from the operation console 50, the table 40 is moved so as to position the imaging subject (e.g., patient) 16 in the imaging space.

In step S502, the controller unit 20 receives operator input regarding patient information and imaging protocols. In particular, the operator may select the protocol based on the anatomy to be scanned. The imaging protocol may include a region of interest (ROI), a field of view (FOV), an imaging sequence that needs to be performed, and the like.

In step S503, the table 40 is moved to position the portion to be scanned of the imaging subject 16 to the scan center.

In step S504, the radio frequency generator 13 transmits the fat suppression pulse P41 to the radio frequency transmission coil 12 in response to the requirements regarding the timing, amplitude, and angle of the radio frequency pulse in the imaging sequence issued by the controller unit 20.

In step S505, the radio frequency generator 13 transmits the radio frequency excitation pulse P42 to the radio frequency transmission coil 12 in response to the requirements regarding the timing, amplitude, angle of the radio frequency pulse in the imaging sequence issued by the controller unit 20, and may transmit the radio frequency excitation pulse P42 immediately after the fat suppression pulse P41 ends.

In step S506, the radio frequency generator 13 transmits the radio frequency refocus pulse P46 to the radio frequency transmission coil 12 in response to the requirements regarding the timing, amplitude, angle of the radio frequency pulse in the imaging sequence issued by the controller unit 20.

In step S507, the gradient coil driver 18 transmits the slice selection gradient pulses to the gradient coil system 17 in response to the requirements regarding the timing, amplitude, width of the gradient pulses in the imaging sequence issued by the controller unit 20.

In step S508, the gradient coil driver 18 transmits phase encoding gradient pulses to the gradient coil system 17 in response to the requirements regarding the timing, amplitude, width of the gradient pulses in the imaging sequence issued by the controller unit 20.

In step S509, the gradient coil driver 18 transmits three symmetrical frequency encoding gradient pulses (e.g., gradient read pulses P43, P44, and P45) to the gradient coil system 17 in response to the requirements regarding timing, amplitude, and width of the gradient pulses in the imaging sequence issued by the controller unit 20. Magnetic resonance signals of the subject are received by the radio frequency surface coil 19 or the body coil in response to the three symmetric frequency encoding gradient pulses, respectively.

In step S510, the data acquisition unit 14 acquires and pre-processes the magnetic resonance signal received in each echo in response to a data acquisition control signal sent by the controller unit 20 to acquire first image data and second image data, respectively.

The step S509 may be repeated for a plurality of times until the end of the current repetition time, and after the end of the current repetition time, the steps S504 to S510 are repeated to execute the next repetition time of the imaging sequence.

In step S511, the data processing unit 30 performs arithmetic processing and image reconstruction processing on the first image data and the second image data in response to the data processing control signal issued by the controller unit 20 to acquire fat-suppressed image data.

In step S512, the data processing unit 30 displays an image reconstructed based on the first image data, the second image data, or the fat-suppressed image data through the display unit 60 in response to the image display signal issued by the controller unit 20.

Based on the above description, embodiments of the present invention can provide an improved magnetic resonance imaging system, which includes:

a scanner for acquiring data of an imaging subject;

a controller unit coupled to the scanner and configured to control the scanner to perform an imaging sequence, wherein: applying a fat suppression pulse prior to the start of any repetition time of the imaging sequence; performing a plurality of echoes within the repetition time, wherein first image data when water and fat are in phase and second image data when water and fat are in anti-phase are acquired during each echo of the plurality of echoes; and the number of the first and second groups,

A data processing unit for acquiring fat suppressed image data from the first image data and the second image data.

Further, the chemical shift directions in the first image data and the second image data acquired during each echo are opposite.

Further, during each echo, the controller unit controls the scanner to apply a first gradient read pulse to acquire first image data when water and fat are in phase, and to apply a second gradient read pulse to acquire second image data when water and fat are in anti-phase, wherein the first gradient read pulse and the second gradient read pulse are in opposite directions.

Further, the first gradient read pulse and the second gradient read pulse are continuously applied.

Further, the controller unit controls the scanner to apply the first gradient pulse once during each echo and to apply the second gradient pulse twice before and after the first gradient pulse, respectively.

Further, the data processing unit is configured to acquire average image data of two second image data obtained when the second gradient pulse is applied twice, and acquire the fat-suppressed image data from the first image data and the average image data.

Fig. 6 is a set of human tissue images obtained by using the conventional fat suppression technology, wherein due to the undesirable fat suppression effect, a bright signal artifact region appears obviously, and the images are not uniform.

Fig. 7 and 8 are a set of images of human tissue obtained by the method of an embodiment of the invention, wherein fig. 7 shows images obtained when acquiring both first image data when water and fat are in phase and second image data when water and fat are in anti-phase during one repetition time, fig. 8 shows images obtained when applying a fat suppression pulse further before the repetition time, and comparing fig. 6 with fig. 7 and 8, fig. 7 and 8 show images in which chemical shift artifacts and chemical shift edge artifacts are significantly eliminated. Comparing the portions indicated by arrows in fig. 7 and 8, the image in fig. 8 further eliminates chemical shift edge artifacts.

As used herein, an element or step recited in the singular and proceeded with the word "a" or "an" should be understood as not excluding plural said elements or steps, unless such exclusion is explicitly recited. Furthermore, references to "one embodiment" of the present invention are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features. Moreover, unless explicitly stated to the contrary, embodiments "comprising," "including," "having" or "having" an element or a plurality of elements having a particular property may include additional such elements not having that property. The terms "including" and "in which" are used as plain language equivalents of the respective terms "comprising" and "characterized by". Furthermore, in the appended claims, the terms "first," "second," and "third," etc. are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numerical requirements or a particular positional order on their objects.

This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the relevant art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The scope of the invention is defined by the claims and may include other examples known to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.