Patent ID: 7437188

Claim:
A method for producing an image of a subject over an extended longitudinal field of view (FOV tot ) which is larger than a longitudinal field of view (FOV) of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system having a defined longitudinal field of view (FOV), the steps comprising: a) moving the subject through the MRI system such that the extended longitudinal field of view (FOV tot ) passes through the defined longitudinal field of view (FOV); b) continuously acquiring NMR data from the subject as the subject is moved through the longitudinal FOV during a scan by repeatedly performing an imaging pulse sequence which acquires NMR data comprising a view of the subject; c) Fourier transforming each acquired view; d) storing each transformed view in a data matrix; e) calculating phase correction values from central DC views acquired during the scan that have no phase encoding applied; f) phase correcting transformed views using the calculated phase correction values; and g) reconstructing an image from phase corrected and transformed views stored in the data matrix.