Resolution enhanced T1-insensitive steady-state imaging

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Jamal J. Derakhshan, Case Western Reserve University; Sherif G Nour, Emory University; Jeffrey L. Sunshine, Case Western Reserve University; Mark A. Griswold, Case Western Reserve University; Jeffrey L. Duerk, Case Western Reserve University
• Language: English
• Date: 2012-08-01
• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mrm.23290
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
• ISSN: 0740-3194
• Volume: 68
• Issue: 2
• Start Page: 421
• End Page: 429
• Grant/Funding Information: JJD was supported in part by Award Number F30HL094002 from the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute.
• Keywords: Science & Technology; pulse sequence; SPIN; MR-CAT-SCAN; TRUEFISP; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; rapid imaging; spatial resolution; T2 contrast; Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
• Research Categories: Engineering, Biomedical; Health Sciences, Radiology

Abstract

Resolution enhanced T 1-insensitive steady-state imaging (RE-TOSSI) is a new MRI pulse sequence for the generation of rapid T 2 contrast with high spatial resolution. TOSSI provides T 2 contrast by using nonequally spaced inversion pulses throughout a balanced steady-state free precession (SSFP) acquisition. In RE-TOSSI, these energy and time intensive adiabatic inversion pulses and associated magnetization preparation are removed from TOSSI after acquisition of the data around the center of k-space. Magnetization evolution simulations demonstrate T 2 contrast in TOSSI as well as reduction in the widening of the point spread function width (by up to a factor of 4) to a near ideal case for RE-TOSSI. Phantom experimentation is used to characterize and compare the contrast and spatial resolution properties of TOSSI, RE-TOSSI, balanced SSFP, Half-Fourier Acquisition Single-Shot Turbo Spin Echo (HASTE), and turbo spin echo and to optimize the fraction of k-space acquired using TOSSI. Comparison images in the abdomen and brain demonstrate similar contrast and improved spatial resolution in RE-TOSSI compared with TOSSI; comparison balanced SSFP, HASTE, and turbo spin echo images are provided. RE-TOSSI is capable of providing high spatial resolution T 2-weighted images in 1 s or less per image.