Sensitivity encoding MRI acquisition method

1. A method for producing a prescribed image of an object having a field of view D with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the steps comprising:

A) performing a pulse sequence with the MRI system to acquire calibration data with each of N local coils positioned near the object;

B) performing a prescribed imaging pulse sequence with the MRI system to acquire image data with each of the N local coils;

C) reconstructing calibration images with the calibration data;

D) acquiring a calibration object image with the MRI system which depicts the object boundary disposed outside the field of view of the prescribed image;

E) calculate a coil sensitivity image for each local coil using the calibration images;

F) calculating an aliasing replicate number A for each pixel location in the prescribed image using the field of view D and the location of the object boundary;

G) forming a sensitivity matrix S from the coil sensitivity images and the calculated aliasing replicate numbers A;

H) reconstructing images I from the image data acquired in step b); and

I) producing the prescribed image by calculating a proton distribution image M using the sensitivity matrix S and the images I.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 in which step I) is performed using the formula:

M=[ ( S*S )−1 S*]I,

where S* is the complex conjugate of the sensitivity matrix S.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 in which the pulse sequence used in step A) is different than the prescribed imaging pulse sequence used in step B).

4. The method as recited in claim 3 in which the calibration data acquired in step A) and the image data acquired in step B) are acquired from substantially the same imaging volume in the object and the calibration object image is acquired from a substantially larger imaging volume.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 in which step F) includes:

counting the number of times the aligned boundary location can be moved an increment D along the phase encoding axis before it passes the pixel location.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 in which step D) includes:

i) producing a calibration object image which depicts the entire object disposed within a plane containing the slice defined by the prescribed image;

ii) locating the object boundary in the calibration object image; and

iii) aligning pixels in the calibration object image with pixels in the prescribed image.