Parallel imaging methods for phased array MRI

Two parallel methods for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using radio frequency (RF) phased array surface coils, named spatial local Fourier encoding (SLFE) and spatial RF encoding (SRFE), are presented. The MR signals are acquired from separate channels across the coils, each of which covers a sub-FOV (field-of-view) in a parallel fashion, and the acquired data are combined to form an image of entire FOV. These two parallel encoding techniques can accelerate MR imaging greatly, yet associated artifact may appear, although the SLFE is an effective image reconstruction method which can reduce the localized artifact in some degrees. By the SRFE, RF coil array can be utilized for spatial encoding through a specialized coil design. The images are acquired in a snapshot with a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) without the costly gradient system, resulting in great saving of cost. Both mutual induction and aliasing effect of adjacent coils are critical to the success of SRFE. The strategies of inverse source problem and wavelet transform (WT) can be employed to eliminate them. The results simulated by MATLAB are reported.