Patent ID: 6487435
Filing Date: 2002-11-26
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
A method for producing a magnetic resonance image of a patient using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the steps comprising:a) operating the MRI system to acquire a k-space image data set using a three-dimensional projection reconstruction pulse sequence that is repeated to sample k-space throughout a three-dimensional k-space volume V, and wherein the three-dimensional projection reconstruction pulse sequence is repeated a sufficient number of times to sample in accordance with the Nyquist condition, a central volume of k-space that is substantially smaller than the volume V but not a sufficient number of times to sample a peripheral region of k-space in accordance with the Nyquist condition; and b) reconstructing an image using substantially the entire, undersampled acquired k-space image data set and wherein the number of repetitions of the three-dimensional projection reconstruction pulse sequence is substantially less than one-half the number of repetitions necessary to fully sample the entire k-space volume V in accordance with the Nyquist condition.