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Whole‐heart chemical shift encoded water–fat MRI
Author(s) -
Taviani Valentina,
Hernando Diego,
Francois Christopher J.,
Shimakawa Ann,
Vigen Karl K.,
Nagle Scott K.,
Schiebler Mark L.,
Grist Thomas M.,
Reeder Scott B.
Publication year - 2014
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.24982
Subject(s) - image quality , magnetic resonance imaging , pulse sequence , medicine , nuclear medicine , nuclear magnetic resonance , radiology , computer science , artificial intelligence , physics , image (mathematics)
Purpose To develop and evaluate a free‐breathing chemical‐shift‐encoded (CSE) spoiled gradient‐recalled echo (SPGR) technique for whole‐heart water–fat imaging at 3 Tesla (T). Methods We developed a three‐dimensional (3D) multi‐echo SPGR pulse sequence with electrocardiographic gating and navigator echoes and evaluated its performance at 3T in healthy volunteers (N = 6) and patients (N = 20). CSE‐SPGR, 3D SPGR, and 3D balanced‐SSFP with chemical fat saturation were compared in six healthy subjects with images evaluated for overall image quality, level of residual artifacts, and quality of fat suppression. A similar scoring system was used for the patient datasets. Results Images of diagnostic quality were acquired in all but one subject. CSE‐SPGR performed similarly to SPGR with fat saturation, although it provided a more uniform fat suppression over the whole field of view. Balanced‐SSFP performed worse than SPGR‐based methods. In patients, CSE‐SPGR produced excellent fat suppression near metal. Overall image quality was either good (7/20) or excellent (12/20) in all but one patient. There were significant artifacts in 5/20 clinical cases. Conclusion CSE‐SPGR is a promising technique for whole‐heart water–fat imaging during free‐breathing. The robust fat suppression in the water‐only image could improve assessment of complex morphology at 3T and in the presence of off‐resonance, with additional information contained in the fat‐only image. Magn Reson Med 72:718–725, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.