Patent ID: 8536868

Claim:
A method for contiguous large imaging in magnetic resonance tomography with continuous table displacement of a table on which an examination subject is supported, said method comprising the steps of: operating a magnetic resonance data acquisition unit to acquire a magnetic resonance tomography overview image along a body axis, selected from the group consisting of the sagittal axis and the coronal axis, of an examination subject on a patient table with continuous displacement of the patient table in a movement direction along a longitudinal direction of the body of the examination subject; in a processor, establishing a planning field of view (FOV) by selectively circumscribing an individual anatomical region of interest of a selected size within the body of the examination subject depicted in the overview image; using said processor, planning a configuration of multi-dimensional radio-frequency (RF) excitation volumes of the examination subject with the planning FOV completely overlapped along said body axis by an entirety of the RF examination volumes; radiating slice-selective RF excitation pulses into the examination subject, with continuous displacement of said patient table, into successive segments of the examination subject encompassed by said RF excitation volumes, to excite nuclear spins successively in said segments, and successively reading out magnetic resonance signals from said segments arising from the excited nuclear spins therein; and shifting at least two of said multi-dimensional RF excitation volumes with respect to each other in a direction orthogonal to said movement direction to cause a focal point of said RF excitation volumes to be on a center line of said planning FOV.