Respiratory-state resolved magnetic resonance imaging

A computer program product comprising machine executable instructions, stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, for execution by a computational system controlling a medical system, wherein the medical system comprises a magnetic resonance imaging system configured to acquire k-space data for a field of view of a subject, wherein the magnetic resonance imaging system is configured to provide a respiratory signal, wherein the respiratory signal is descriptive of a respiratory position of the subject, wherein the respiratory signal is further descriptive of inhalation and exhalation of the subject, wherein execution of the machine executable instructions causes the computational system to repeatedly:

• perform the individual acquisition of k-space data by controlling the magnetic resonance imaging system with pulse sequence commands, wherein the pulse sequence commands are configured to perform the acquiring of the k-space data as multiple acquisitions of individually acquired k-space data according to a multi-dimensional k-space sampling pattern, wherein the pulse sequence commands are configured such that the multi-dimensional k-space sampling pattern is varied between each individual k-space data acquisition of the multiple acquisitions of k-space data;
• receive the respiratory signal during acquisition of the individual acquired k-space data;
• and
• bin the individually acquired k-space data into one of a predetermined number of k-space bins using the respiratory signal and inhalation or exhalation of the subject;
• repeatedly bin the individually acquired k-space data into a respiratory position histogram, wherein the respiratory position histogram does not differentiate in terms of inhalation and exhalation of the subject;
• wherein execution of the machine executable instructions further causes the computational system to reconstruct a magnetic resonance image for each of the k-space bins to provide a respiratory-state resolved magnetic resonance image of the field of view;
• and
• wherein execution of the machine executable instructions further causes the computational system to identify respiratory outliers using the respiratory position histogram, and wherein the respiratory-state resolved magnetic resonance image is corrected for the respiratory outliers.

A method of operating a medical system, wherein the medical system comprises a magnetic resonance imaging system configured to acquire k-space data for a field of view of a subject, wherein the magnetic resonance imaging system is configured to provide a respiratory signal, wherein the respiratory signal is descriptive of a respiratory position of the subject, wherein the respiratory signal is further descriptive of inhalation and exhalation of the subject;

• wherein the method comprises repeatedly:
• performing the individual acquisition of k-space data by controlling the magnetic resonance imaging system with pulse sequence commands, wherein the pulse sequence commands are configured to perform the acquiring of the k-space data as multiple acquisitions of individually acquired k-space data according to a multi-dimensional k-space sampling pattern, wherein the pulse sequence commands are configured such that the multi-dimensional k-space sampling pattern is varied between each individual k-space data acquisition of the multiple acquisitions of k-space data;
• receiving the respiratory signal during acquisition of the individual acquired k-space data;
• binning the individually acquired k-space data into one of a predetermined number of k-space bins using the respiratory signal and inhalation or exhalation of the subject;
• repeatedly binning the individually acquired k-space data into a respiratory position histogram, wherein the respiratory position histogram does not differentiate in terms of inhalation and exhalation of the subject;
• reconstructing a magnetic resonance image for each of the k-space bins to provide a respiratory-state resolved magnetic resonance image of the field of view;
• and
• identifying respiratory outliers using the respiratory position histogram, and correcting the respiratory-state resolved magnetic resonance image for the respiratory outliers.