Method and apparatus for performing accelarated magnetic resonance imaging with reduced off-resonance effect

Abstract

A method of performing magnetic resonance imaging of a body using a magnetic resonance imaging scanner the method includes applying to the body a time-varying magnetic field gradient (G, G, G) defining a continuous trajectory (ST) in k-space complying with a set of constraints including constraints on maximum amplitude and maximum slew rate of the time-varying magnetic field gradient, such that sampling points (KS) belonging to the trajectory define a pseudo-random sampling of the k-space, approximating a predetermined target sampling density, the trajectory in k-space minimizing, subject to the set of constraints, a cost function defined by the difference between a first term, called attraction term, promoting consistency of the distribution of sampling points in k-space with the predetermined target sampling density, and a second term, called repulsion term, promoting separation in k-space between sampling points, the repulsion term being expressed as a sum of contributions corresponding to respective pairs of sampling points; wherein each the contribution is weighted by a weight which increase with temporal separation of the sampling points along the trajectory in k-space.