Reduced k-space sampling for MR images with a limited region of support

When region of support information is available in MRI, the number of phase-encoding steps and thus time can be reduced compared to acquiring the standard rectangular grid. This reduction can be accomplished without loss of information if the k-space locations are chosen well. We propose to select locations using a rectangular sampling array that is shifted to various positions in k-space to obtain the necessary sampling density. The proposed method is fast enough to be used in real-time imaging and overcomes some of the limitations of previously proposed methods.