Patent ID: 7610076

Claim:
In a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system having a defined field of view (FOV), a method for producing a series of time-resolved images of a subject over an extended field of view (FOV tot ) which is larger than the FOV, the steps comprising: a) moving the subject through the MRI system such that the extended field of view (FOV tot ) passes through the defined field of view (FOV); b) acquiring three-dimensional image data while step a) is performed by repeatedly performing a three-dimensional pulse sequence with the MRI system to repeatedly sample three-dimensional k-space in accordance with a prescribed sampling pattern by stepping a phase encoding gradient through a prescribed series of values in a succession of phase encoding cycles, and in which the prescribed sampling pattern fully samples a central region of k-space and undersamples a peripheral region of k-space for each phase encoding cycle; c) adjusting the three-dimensional image data acquired in step b) to offset table motion during its acquisition; and d) reconstructing a series of time resolved, three-dimensional images from the adjusted three-dimensional image data acquired at successive times.