Patent ID: 7346383

Claim:
In a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system having a defined longitudinal field of view (FOV), a method for producing an image of a subject over an extended longitudinal field of view (FOV tot ) which is larger than the longitudinal 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 acquire NMR data from the subject as the subject is moved through the longitudinal FOV by repeatedly performing an imaging pulse sequence which acquires NMR data comprising a view of the subject; c) altering the imaging pulse sequence to change the lateral field of view (FOV L ) during the performance of step b); d) storing each view in a data matrix; e) producing resampled data in lines of the data matrix to provide uniform sampling in the lateral direction in the region where the lateral FOV L is changed; and f) reconstructing an image using the resampled data matrix.