Magnetic resonance projection angiography with continuous table displacement

A magnetic resonance apparatus for contiguous large imaging with continuous table displacement of a table on which an examination subject is supported, comprising:

• a magnetic data acquisition unit having a displaceable patient table adapted to receive an examination subject thereon;
• a computerized control and processing system configured to operate said magnetic resonance data acquisition unit to acquire a magnetic resonance tomography overview image along a body axis, selected from the group consisting of the sagittal axis and the coronal axis, of the examination subject on the patient table with continuous displacement of the patient table along a longitudinal direction of the body of the examination subject;
• said computerized control and processing system being configured to establish a planning field of view (FOV) by circumscribing an anatomical region of interest in the body of the examination subject depicted in the overview image;
• said computerized control and processing system being configured to plan a configuration of multi-dimensional radio-frequency (RF) excitation volumes of the examination subject with the planning FOV completely overlapped along said body axis by an entirety of the RF examination volumes;
• said computerized control and processing system being configured to operate said data acquisition unit to radiate slice-selective RF excitation pulses into the examination subject, with continuous displacement of said patient table, into successive segments of the examination subject encompassed by said RF excitation volumes, to excite nuclear spins successively in said segments, and successively reading out magnetic resonance signals from said segments arising from the excited nuclear spins therein;
• and
• said computerized control and processing system being configured to shift at least two of said multi-dimensional RF excitation volumes with respect to each other along said body axis to cause a focal point of said RF excitation volumes to be on a center line of said planning FOV.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with programming instructions, said medium being loaded into a computerized control and processing system of a magnetic resonance apparatus, having a magnetic resonance data acquisition unit with a displaceable patient table adapted to receive an examination subject thereon, and said programming instructions causing said computerized control and processing system to:

• operate the magnetic resonance data acquisition unit to acquire a magnetic resonance tomography overview image along a body axis, selected from the group consisting of the sagittal axis and the coronal axis, of the examination subject on the patient table with continuous displacement of the patient table along a longitudinal direction of the body of the examination subject;
• establish a planning field of view (FOV) by circumscribing an anatomical region of interest in the body of the examination subject depicted in the overview image;
• plan a configuration of multi-dimensional radio-frequency (RF) excitation volumes of the examination subject with the planning FOV completely overlapped along said body axis by an entirety of the RF examination volumes;
• operate the data acquisition unit to radiate slice-selective RF excitation pulses into the examination subject, with continuous displacement of said patient table, into successive segments of the examination subject encompassed by said RF excitation volumes, to excite nuclear spins successively in said segments, and successively reading out magnetic resonance signals from said segments arising from the excited nuclear spins therein;
• and
• operate the data acquisition unit to shift at least two of said multi-dimensional RF excitation volumes with respect to each other along said body axis to cause a focal point of said RF excitation volumes to be on a center line of said planning FOV.