Premium
Three‐dimensional prepolarized magnetic resonance imaging using rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement
Author(s) -
Matter Nathaniel I.,
Scott Greig C.,
Venook Ross D.,
Ungersma Sharon E.,
Grafendorfer Thomas,
Macovski Albert,
Conolly Steven M.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.21065
Subject(s) - magnetic resonance imaging , nuclear magnetic resonance , relaxation (psychology) , physics of magnetic resonance imaging , magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging , relaxometry , physics , spin echo , medicine , radiology
Prepolarized MRI (PMRI) with pulsed electromagnets has the potential to produce diagnostic quality 0.5‐ to 1.0‐T images with significantly reduced cost, susceptibility artifacts, specific absorption rate, and gradient noise. In PMRI, the main magnetic field cycles between a high field ( B p ) to polarize the sample and a homogeneous, low field ( B 0 ) for data acquisition. This architecture combines the higher SNR of the polarizing field with the imaging benefits of the lower field. However, PMRI can only achieve high SNR efficiency for volumetric imaging with 3D rapid imaging techniques, such as rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement (RARE) (FSE, TSE), because slice‐interleaved acquisition and longitudinal magnetization storage are both inefficient in PMRI. This paper demonstrates the use of three techniques necessary to achieve efficient, artifact‐free RARE in PMRI: quadratic nulling of concomitant gradient fields, electromotive force cancelation during field ramping, and phase compensation of CPMG echo trains. This paper also demonstrates the use of 3D RARE in PMRI to achieve standard T 1 and fat‐suppressed T 2 contrast in phantoms and in vivo wrists. These images show strong potential for future clinical application of PMRI to extremity musculoskeletal imaging and peripheral angiography. Magn Reason Med, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss.Inc.