Through modification of the phase-encoding gradient, a method and apparatus increases the effectiveness of a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) device by decreasing scan time without noticeably decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio. In an MRI device, a patient is subjected to a constant magnetic field, and then radio frequency (RF) pulses are used to excite the nuclei in the patient's body. The nuclei release a corresponding RF signal as the nuclei relax, which can be measured and mapped into a visual display. The RF pulses used to excite the nuclei in the body cooperate with a slice select gradient and a phase-encoding gradient. When the phase-encoding gradient is indexed and prioritized according to contribution to image quality, then phase-encoding values with little or no contribution to image quality need not be acquired but may be replaced with randomized system noise, thereby decreasing total scan time without reducing the signal-to-noise ratio.