Highly undersampled phase‐contrast flow measurements using compartment‐based k – t principal component analysis

The applicability of cine blood flow measurements in a clinical setting is often compromised by the long scan times associated with phase‐contrast imaging. In this work, we propose an extension to the k – t principal component analysis method and demonstrate that by definition of spatial compartment‐dependent temporal basis functions, significant improvements in reconstruction accuracy can be achieved relative to the original k – t principal component analysis and k – t SENSE formulations. Using this method, it is shown that prospective nominal undersampling of up to 16 corresponding to a net acceleration factor of 8 including training data acquisition can be realized while keeping the error in stroke volume below 5%. As a practical application, the acquisition of cine flow data in the aorta is demonstrated permitting assessment of two‐dimensional velocity images and pulse wave velocities at 100 frames per second in a single breathhold per slice. Magn Reson Med, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.