Dixon-type water/fat separation MRI using high-SNR in-phase image and lower-SNR at least partially out-of-phase image

摘要

A method of Dixon-type MR imaging includes the steps of —generating a first imaging sequence for producing first MR echo signals at a first echo time, such that contributions from MR signals emanating from water protons and MR signals emanating from fat protons to the first MR echo signals are essentially in phase, —acquiring the first MR echo signals at a first signal-to-noise ratio, —generating a second imaging sequence for producing second MR echo signals at a second echo time, such that contributions from MR signals emanating from water protons and MR signals emanating from fat protons to the second MR echo signals are at least partially out of phase, —acquiring the second MR echo signals at a second signal-to-noise ratio which is different from the first signal-to-noise ratio, and —reconstructing a MR image from the first and second MR echo signals. The signal contributions from water protons and fat protons are separated.