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Utilization of a balanced steady state free precession signal model for improved fat/water decomposition
Author(s) -
Henze Bancroft Leah C.,
Strigel Roberta M.,
Hernando Diego,
Johnson Kevin M.,
Kelcz Frederick,
Kijowski Richard,
Block Walter F.
Publication year - 2016
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.25728
Subject(s) - decomposition , imaging phantom , steady state free precession imaging , signal (programming language) , computer science , process (computing) , chemical process of decomposition , biological system , materials science , acoustics , physics , magnetic resonance imaging , chemistry , optics , medicine , organic chemistry , biology , radiology , programming language , operating system
Purpose Chemical shift based fat/water decomposition methods such as IDEAL are frequently used in challenging imaging environments with large B 0 inhomogeneity. However, they do not account for the signal modulations introduced by a balanced steady state free precession (bSSFP) acquisition. Here we demonstrate improved performance when the bSSFP frequency response is properly incorporated into the multipeak spectral fat model used in the decomposition process. Theory and Methods Balanced SSFP allows for rapid imaging but also introduces a characteristic frequency response featuring periodic nulls and pass bands. Fat spectral components in adjacent pass bands will experience bulk phase offsets and magnitude modulations that change the expected constructive and destructive interference between the fat spectral components. A bSSFP signal model was incorporated into the fat/water decomposition process and used to generate images of a fat phantom, and bilateral breast and knee images in four normal volunteers at 1.5 Tesla. Results Incorporation of the bSSFP signal model into the decomposition process improved the performance of the fat/water decomposition. Conclusion Incorporation of this model allows rapid bSSFP imaging sequences to use robust fat/water decomposition methods such as IDEAL. While only one set of imaging parameters were presented, the method is compatible with any field strength or repetition time. Magn Reson Med 75:1269–1277, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.