Method and apparatus for generating a magnetic resonance data file

A method for generating a magnetic resonance (MR) image comprising the steps of:

• acquiring MR raw data from an examination subject using an MR imaging sequence;
• establishing k-space in a computer storage medium and dividing k-space into a contiguous central region and a contiguous peripheral region surrounding said central region;
• in a computerized procedure, entering said raw data into k-space at a constant sampling rate for both of said central and peripheral regions, by scanning said central region and said peripheral region alternatively a plurality of times and, during each scan of said peripheral region, scanning different sampling points in k-space with respect to the preceding scan of said peripheral region or with respect to the following scan of said peripheral region, while sampling said central region with a first sampling density of sampling points in k-space and sampling said peripheral region at a second sampling density of sampling points in k-space that is less than first sampling density, thereby producing sampled k-space;
• and
• reconstructing an image from sampled k-space and making the reconstructed image available as an image file as an output from said computerized procedure.

A magnetic resonance (MR) imaging system comprising:

• a MR data acquisition unit configured to interact with an examination subject;
• a controller that operates said (MR) data acquisition unit, by implementing a magnetic resonance imaging sequence, to acquire MR raw data from the examination subject;
• an image computer having access to a computer storage medium wherein said image computer establishes k-space and divides k-space into a contiguous central region and a contiguous peripheral region surrounding said central region, said image computer entering said raw data into k-space at a constant sampling rate for both of said central and peripheral regions, by scanning said central re ion and said peripheral region alternatively a plurality of times and, during each scan of said peripheral region, scanning different sampling points in k-space with respect to the preceding scan of said peripheral region or with respect to the following scan of said peripheral region, while sampling said central region with a first sampling density of sampling points in k-space and sampling said peripheral region at a second sampling density of sampling points in k-space that is less than said first sampling density, thereby producing sampled k-space, and said image computer reconstructing an image of the examination subject from sampled k-space;
• and
• a display in communication with said image computer at which said image computer causes the reconstructed image to be visually displayed.