Quiet MR imaging

A magnetic resonance (MR) device comprising at least one main magnet coil for generating a uniform, steady magnetic field within an examination volume, a number of gradient coils for generating switched magnetic field gradients in different spatial directions within the examination volume, at least one RF coil for generating RF pulses within the examination volume and/or for receiving MR signals from an object positioned in the examination volume, a control unit for controlling the temporal succession of RF pulses and switched magnetic field gradients, and a reconstruction unit, wherein the MR device is arranged to perform the following steps:

• subjecting the object to an imaging sequence comprising:
• a) varying a magnetic field gradient vector (GX, GY, GZ) from an initial position (A) to an end position (B) over a plurality of intermediate positions while a plurality of RF pulses is radiated in the presence of the magnetic field gradient;
• b) varying the magnetic field gradient vector (GX, GY, GZ) again from the initial position (A) to the end position (B) over the plurality of intermediate positions while a plurality of MR echo signals is acquired in the presence of the magnetic field gradient;
• c) sampling a spherical volume in k-space by repeating steps a) and b) a plurality of times for different initial, intermediate, and/or end positions;
• reconstructing a MR image from the acquired MR echo signals.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying a computer program configured to be run on a computer of a magnetic resonance (MR) device to control the MR device to:

• generate an imaging sequence comprising:
• a) varying a magnetic field gradient vector (GX, GY, GZ) from an initial position (A) to an end position (B) over a plurality of intermediate positions while a plurality of RF pulses are radiated in the presence of the magnetic field gradient;
• b) varying the magnetic field gradient vector (GX, GY, GZ) again from the initial position (A) to the end position (B) over the plurality of intermediate positions while a plurality of MR echo signals are acquired in the presence of the magnetic field gradient;
• c) sampling a spherical volume in k-space by repeating steps a) and b) a plurality of times for different initial, intermediate, and/or end positions;
• reconstructing a MR image from the acquired MR echo signals.