1. A method for correcting saturation banding in magnetic resonance imaging comprising: acquiring at least one artifact calibration scan, with a timing that corresponds to that of an actual diagnostic imaging scan; acquiring at least one reference calibration scan, with a timing that corresponds to that of the actual diagnostic imaging scan; determining a mask of saturation bands in the at least one artifact calibration scan; dividing each voxel in the at least one reference calibration scan by each corresponding voxel in the at least one artifact calibration scan within the extent of the mask to determine mask region correction values; assigning the mask region correction values to corresponding voxels in a two dimensional signal correction profile, the corresponding voxels being within the extent of the mask, and assigning a preselected constant value to a plurality of voxels in the two dimensional signal correction profile, the plurality of voxels being outside of the extent of the mask; applying the two dimensional signal correction profile to the actual diagnostic imaging scan.