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Purpose: To evaluate the performance of 2D versus 3D T2-weighted spin echo imaging in the breast., Materials and Methods: 2D and 3D T2-weighted images were acquired in 25 patients as part of a clinically indicated breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exam. Lesion-to-fibroglandular tissue signal ratio was measured in 16 identified lesions. Clarity of lesion morphology was assessed through a blinded review by three radiologists. Instances demonstrating the potential diagnostic contribution of 3D versus 2D T2-weighted imaging in the breast were noted through unblinded review by a fourth radiologist., Results: The lesion-to-fibroglandular tissue signal ratio was well correlated between 2D and 3D T2-weighted images (R(2)  = 0.93). Clarity of lesion morphology was significantly better with 3D T2-weighted imaging for all observers based on a McNemar test (P ≤ 0.02, P ≤ 0.01, P ≤ 0.03). Instances indicating the potential diagnostic contribution of 3D T2-weighted imaging included improved depiction of signal intensity and improved alignment between DCE and T2-weighted findings., Conclusion: In this pilot study, 3D T2-weighted imaging provided comparable contrast and improved depiction of lesion morphology in the breast in comparison to 2D T2-weighted imaging. Based on these results further investigation to determine the diagnostic impact of 3D T2-weighted imaging in breast MRI is warranted., (Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The Bloch-Siegert (B-S) B1 (+) mapping technique is a fast, phase-based method that is highly SAR limited especially at 7T, necessitating the use of long repetition times. Spiral and echo-planar readouts were incorporated in a gradient-echo based B-S sequence to reduce specific absoprtion rate (SAR) and improve its scan efficiency. A novel, numerically optimized 4 ms B-S off-resonant pulse at + 1960 Hz was used to increase sensitivity and further reduce SAR compared with the conventional 6 ms Fermi B-S pulse. Using echo-planar and spiral readouts, scan time reductions of 8-16 were achieved. By reducing the B-S pulse width by a factor of 1.5, SAR was reduced by a factor of 1.5 and overall sensitivity was increased by a factor of 1.33 due to the nearly halved resonance offset of the new B-S pulse. This was validated on phantoms and volunteers at 7 T., (Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Purpose: To present a new method that can simultaneously and efficiently measure T1 and B1 (+) maps using reference region variable flip angle (RR-VFA) imaging., Methods: Assuming T1 relaxation time in a reference region such as fat is well characterized, and the reference region sufficiently covers smoothly varying B1 (+) field inhomogeneity, B1 (+) maps can be measured from VFA images, conventionally used for T1 measurements. Fat-only images from two-point Dixon acquisitions were used to compute B1 (+) maps, and the B1 (+) maps were compared with ones using the double-angle method (DAM) in 22 breast MRI patients at 3T. Additionally, high spatial resolution VFA images were acquired to show T1 measurements with and without the RR-VFA B1 (+) correction in six patients., Results: RR-VFA is able to generate reliable B1 (+) maps, similar to those using the conventional DAM. This simultaneous T1 and B1 (+) mapping can also be used to reduce T1 estimation errors, where T1 maps have more uniform fibroglandular tissue T1 and better depiction of heterogeneous T1 of breast masses., Conclusion: A new method that can measure both T1 and B1 (+) maps based on Dixon VFA images is described, offering improved T1 quantification with no scan time penalty., (Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Purpose: To develop and evaluate a multiphasic contrast-enhanced MRI method called DIfferential Sub-sampling with Cartesian Ordering (DISCO) for abdominal imaging., Materials and Methods: A three-dimensional, variable density pseudo-random k-space segmentation scheme was developed and combined with a Dixon-based fat-water separation algorithm to generate high temporal resolution images with robust fat suppression and without compromise in spatial resolution or coverage. With institutional review board approval and informed consent, 11 consecutive patients referred for abdominal MRI at 3 Tesla (T) were imaged with both DISCO and a routine clinical three-dimensional SPGR-Dixon (LAVA FLEX) sequence. All images were graded by two radiologists using quality of fat suppression, severity of artifacts, and overall image quality as scoring criteria. For assessment of arterial phase capture efficiency, the number of temporal phases with angiographic phase and hepatic arterial phase was recorded., Results: There were no significant differences in quality of fat suppression, artifact severity or overall image quality between DISCO and LAVA FLEX images (P > 0.05, Wilcoxon signed rank test). The angiographic and arterial phases were captured in all 11 patients scanned using the DISCO acquisition (mean number of phases were two and three, respectively)., Conclusion: DISCO effectively captures the fast dynamics of abdominal pathology such as hyperenhancing hepatic lesions with a high spatio-temporal resolution. Typically, 1.1 × 1.5 × 3 mm spatial resolution over 60 slices was achieved with a temporal resolution of 4-5 s., (Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Purpose: To evaluate the capability of a new breathhold non-contrast-enhanced MRA method (Non-contrast Outer Radial Inner Square k-space Scheme, NORISKS) to visualize renal arteries by comparing the method with a routine clinical but significantly longer non-contrast-enhanced (non-CE) MRA technique., Materials and Methods: Eighteen subjects referred for abdominal MRI were examined with NORISKS and a routine non-contrast-enhanced MRA technique. Two versions of NORISKS were evaluated: with and without ECG gating. The images were then scored independently and in blinded manner by two radiologists on 5-point scales for visualization of the proximal and distal renal arteries and quality of fat suppression., Results: No statistically significant difference was detected between NORISKS and routine clinical non-CE MRA in all categories except for visualization of the distal renal arteries where ungated NORISKS performed poorer than the routine non-CE MRA (P < 10(-4) )., Conclusion: We have demonstrated a promising non-CE MRA method for acquiring renal angiograms within a breathhold without any compromise in spatial resolution or coverage. ECG-gated NORISKS is able to acquire renal angiograms that are comparable to a routine clinical non-CE MRA method (Inhance IFIR, GE Healthcare), which requires approximately seven times the scan time of NORISKS., (Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

A three-dimensional balanced steady-state free precession (b-SSFP)-Dixon technique with a novel group-encoded k-space segmentation scheme called GUINNESS (Group-encoded Ungated Inversion Nulling for Non-contrast Enhancement in the Steady State) was developed. GUINNESS was evaluated for breath-held non-contrast-enhanced MR angiography of the renal arteries on 18 subjects (6 healthy volunteers, 12 patients) at 3.0 T. The method provided high signal-to-noise and contrast renal angiograms with homogeneous fat and background suppression in short breath-holds on the order of 20 s with high spatial resolution and coverage. GUINNESS has potential as a short breath-hold alternative to conventional respiratory-gated methods, which are often suboptimal in pediatric subjects and patients with significant diaphragmatic drift/sleep apnea., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A popular dynamic imaging technique, k-t BLAST (ktB) is studied here for fMR imaging. ktB utilizes correlations in k-space and time, to reconstruct the image time series with only a fraction of the data. The algorithm works by unwrapping the aliased Fourier conjugate space of k-t (y-f-space). The unwrapping process utilizes the estimate of the true y-f-space, by acquiring densely sampled low k-space data. The drawbacks of this method include separate training scan, blurred training estimates and aliased phase maps. The proposed changes are incorporation of phase information from the training map and using generalized-series-extrapolated training map. The proposed technique is compared with ktB on real fMRI data. The proposed changes allow for ktB to operate at an acceleration factor of 6. Performance is evaluated by comparing activation maps obtained using reconstructed images. An improvement of up to 10 dB is observed in the PSNR of activation maps. Besides, a 10% reduction in RMSE is obtained over the entire time series of fMRI images. Peak improvement of the proposed method over ktB is 35%, averaged over five data sets., ((c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop an improved algorithm for measuring the position of the diaphragm using navigator echoes., Methods: This algorithm was applied to navigator echo data acquired from 14 cardiac patients. For each patient, 160 navigator echo profiles were acquired across the right hemi-diaphragm along the superior-inferior direction., Results: The accuracy of the proposed edge-detection algorithm was evaluated together with that of the least-squares and linear phase-shift algorithms. The estimated measurement error of the proposed algorithm was approximately two times smaller than that of the least-squares algorithm (Magn Reson Med, 1996:36: 117-123), and was approximately four times smaller than that of the linear phase-shift algorithm (Magn Reson Med, 1999;42:548-553). The computational efficiency of this algorithm was 7.5 times higher than that of the least-squares algorithm and was comparable with that of the linear phase-shift algorithm., Conclusion: The presented algorithm is accurate, robust, and computationally efficient in the measurement of the diaphragm position.

PurposeTo present a new method that can simultaneously and efficiently measure T1 and B1 (+) maps using reference region variable flip angle (RR-VFA) imaging.MethodsAssuming T1 relaxation time in a reference region such as fat is well characterized, and the reference region sufficiently covers smoothly varying B1 (+) field inhomogeneity, B1 (+) maps can be measured from VFA images, conventionally used for T1 measurements. Fat-only images from two-point Dixon acquisitions were used to compute B1 (+) maps, and the B1 (+) maps were compared with ones using the double-angle method (DAM) in 22 breast MRI patients at 3T. Additionally, high spatial resolution VFA images were acquired to show T1 measurements with and without the RR-VFA B1 (+) correction in six patients.ResultsRR-VFA is able to generate reliable B1 (+) maps, similar to those using the conventional DAM. This simultaneous T1 and B1 (+) mapping can also be used to reduce T1 estimation errors, where T1 maps have more uniform fibroglandular tissue T1 and better depiction of heterogeneous T1 of breast masses.ConclusionA new method that can measure both T1 and B1 (+) maps based on Dixon VFA images is described, offering improved T1 quantification with no scan time penalty.

Purpose: To develop a novel multiresolution MRI methodology for accurate estimation of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in vivo.Materials and Methods: A three-dimensional golden-angle radial stack-of-stars (SoS) trajectory was used for data acquisition on a 3 Tesla MRI scanner. Multiresolution reconstruction and analysis was performed using arterial input function reconstructed at 1-s. temporal resolution and renal dynamic data reconstructed using compressed sensing (CS) with 4-s temporal resolution. The method was first validated using simulations and the clinical utility of the technique was evaluated by comparing the GFR estimates from the proposed method to the estimated GFR (eGFR) obtained from serum creatinine for 10 subjects.Results: The 4-s temporal resolution CS images minimized streaking artifacts and noise while the 1-s temporal resolution AIF minimized errors in GFR estimates. A paired t-test showed that there was no statistically significant difference between MRI based total GFR values and serum creatinine based eGFR estimates (P = 0.92).Conclusion: We have demonstrated the feasibility of multiresolution MRI using a golden angle radial stack-of-stars scheme to accurately estimate GFR as well as produce diagnostic quality dynamic images in vivo.Level Of Evidence: 1 Technical Efficacy: Stage 3 J. MAGN. RESON. IMAGING 2017;46:303-311. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To develop and validate clinically a single-shot fast spin echo (SSFSE) sequence utilizing variable flip angle refocusing pulses to shorten acquisition times via reductions in specific absorption rate (SAR) and improve image quality.Materials and Methods: A variable refocusing flip angle SSFSE sequence (vrfSSFSE) was designed and implemented, with simulations and volunteer scans performed to determine suitable flip angle modulation parameters. With Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval/informed consent, patients referred for 3T abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were scanned with conventional SSFSE and either half-Fourier (n = 25) or full-Fourier vrfSSFSE (n = 50). Two blinded radiologists semiquantitatively scored images on a scale from -2 to 2 for contrast, noise, sharpness, artifacts, cardiac motion-related signal loss, and the ability to evaluate the pancreas and kidneys.Results: vrfSSFSE demonstrated significantly increased speed (∼2-fold, P < 0.0001). Significant improvements in image quality parameters with full-Fourier vrfSSFSE included increased contrast, sharpness, and visualization of pancreatic and renal structures with higher bandwidth technique (mean scores 0.37, 0.83, 0.62, and 0.31, respectively, P ≤ 0.001), and decreased image noise and improved visualization of renal structures when used with an equal bandwidth technique (mean scores 0.96 and 0.35, respectively, P < 0.001). Increased cardiac motion-related signal loss with full-Fourier vrfSSFSE was seen in the pancreas but not the kidney.Conclusion: vrfSSFSE increases speed at 3T over conventional SSFSE via reduced SAR, and when combined with full-Fourier acquisition can improve image quality, although with some increased sensitivity to cardiac motion-related signal loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]