Smart averaging in MR imaging

Flexibility in the order and number of excitations for each ky value can be used to optimize the resulting MR image. The authors realized the following: For serial averaging, acquire one complete set of ky values and repeat this for the number of averages. For multiple sweeps, increase the time between neighboring ky values. For selective averaging, make the number of excitations averaged dependent on ky. For partial matrix, acquire an asymmetric subset of ky values. For selective respiratory gating, exert respiratory timing control on the low ky values only. These techniques assist the user in reducing motion artifacts and noise and allow an increased freedom of image acquisition time