Patent ID: 8384383

Claim:
A method for reconstructing a sequence of magnetic resonance (MR) images of an object under investigation, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a series of sets of image raw data including an image content of the MR images to be reconstructed, said series of sets of image raw data being collected with the use of at least one radiofrequency receiver coil of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device, wherein: each set of image raw data includes a plurality of data samples being generated with a gradient-echo sequence that spatially encodes an MRI signal received with the at least one radiofrequency receiver coil using a non-Cartesian k-space trajectory, each set of image raw data comprises a set of homogeneously distributed lines in k-space with equivalent spatial frequency content, the lines of each set of image raw data cross a center of k-space and cover a continuous range of spatial frequencies, and positions of the lines of each set of image raw data differ in successive sets of image raw data, and (b) subjecting the series of sets of image raw data to a regularized nonlinear inverse reconstruction process to provide the sequence of MR images, wherein each of the MR images is created by the regularized nonlinear inverse reconstruction process including simultaneous estimation of a sensitivity of the at least one receiver coil and the image content, and a regularization using a preceding non-zero reference estimation of the sensitivity of the at least one receiver coil and the image content reconstructed from said series of sets of image raw data.