Patent ID: 7809426

Claim:
A method of magnetic resonance imaging, comprising the steps of: administering a magnetic resonance contrast agent to a subject comprising anatomy that moves in a movement cycle comprising an identifiable movement characteristic in each cycle; waiting a period of time after administering said magnetic resonance contrast agent until the contrast agent causes a first portion of the anatomy to have a different T1 recovery time from a T1 recovery time of other, second portions of the anatomy; after said period of time, implementing a plurality of magnetic resonance data acquisition sequences to acquire magnetic resonance data from the anatomy, each of said magnetic resonance data acquisition sequences having a time duration that is less than at least one of said movement cycles; in each of said magnetic resonance data acquisition sequences, activating an inversion recovery pulse and beginning acquisition of said magnetic resonance data from the anatomy at a predetermined time following activation of the inversion recovery pulse; in each of said magnetic resonance data acquisition sequences, activating the inversion recovery pulse at a different time with respect to the identifiable movement characteristic of the at least one movement cycle encompassed by the respective magnetic resonance data acquisition sequence, and thereby acquiring a plurality of magnetic resonance data sets respectively from the plurality of magnetic resonance data acquisition sequences; and defining an interval between occurrences of said identifiable movement characteristic in successive movement cycles; in at least some of said plurality of magnetic resonance data acquisition sequences, both activating said inversion recovery pulse and acquiring said magnetic resonance data within the same interval; and processing said plurality of magnetic resonance data sets to produce, respectively therefrom, a plurality of images of the anatomy respectively at different phases in said movement cycle, with said first portion appearing visually differently in the respective different phases due to the different times of activation of the inversion recovery pulse in the respective magnetic resonance data acquisition sequences.