A method of generating a spectroscopic image using magnetic resonance includes obtaining spectroscopic data from voxels within the volum e of interest of the sample by subjecting the sample to repeated magnetic resonan ce experiments in one, two or three dimensions. Each experiment is effected ove r a repetition time TR which is defined by the sum of the excitation time, the data acquisition time and any delay time prior to the next experiment. The experiments are arranged such that the repetition time is gradually reduced for experiments encoding higher spatial frequencies relative to an initial repetition time f or experiments encoding lower spatial frequencies. To permit long data acquisition times at low spatial frequencies, but short repetition times at higher spati al frequencies, the initial data acquisition time is relatively long but is gradually reduced for experiments encoding higher spatial frequencies, only reducing the data acquisition time after the delay time is reduced to zero. This allows a reduction in total time of the order of 40% while generating comparable spectroscopic ima ge quality.
MAGNETIC RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPIC IMAGING WITH A VARIABLE REPETITION TIME IN CONJUNCTION WITH A VARIABLE DATA ACQUISTION TIME