Abstract
PURPOSE: To improve fat saturation in coronary MRA at 3T by using a spectrally selective adiabatic T2 -Prep (WSA-T2 -Prep).
METHODS: A conventional adiabatic T2 -Prep (CA-T2 -Prep) was modified, such that the excitation and restoration pulses were of differing bandwidths. On-resonance spins are T2 -Prepared, whereas off-resonance spins, such as fat, are spoiled. This approach was combined with a CHEmically Selective Saturation (CHESS) pulse to achieve even greater fat suppression. Numerical simulations were followed by phantom validation and in vivo coronary MRA.
RESULTS: Numerical simulations demonstrated that augmenting a CHESS pulse with a WSA-T2 -Prep improved robustness to B1 inhomogeneities and that this combined fat suppression was effective over a broader spectral range than that of a CHESS pulse in a conventional T2 -Prepared sequence. Phantom studies also demonstrated that the WSA-T2 -Prep+CHESS combination produced greater fat suppression across a range of B1 values than did a CA-T2 -Prep+CHESS combination. Lastly, in vivo measurements demonstrated that the contrast-to-noise ratio between blood and myocardium was not adversely affected by using a WSA-T2 -Prep, despite the improved abdominal and epicardial fat suppression. Additionally, vessel sharpness improved.
CONCLUSION: The proposed WSA-T2 -Prep method was shown to improve fat suppression and vessel sharpness as compared to a CA-T2 -Prep technique, and to also increase fat suppression when combined with a CHESS pulse.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 763-769 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Magnetic Resonance in Medicine |
Volume | 72 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 1 2014 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- adiabatic
- coronary
- fat
- saturation
- suppression
- T2-Prep
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Medicine