Motion and flow insensitive adiabatic T2‐preparation module for cardiac MR imaging at 3 tesla. Issue 5 (4th December 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jenista, Elizabeth R.; Rehwald, Wolfgang G.; Chen, Enn‐Ling; Kim, Han W.; Klem, Igor; Parker, Michele A.; Kim, Raymond J.
• Is Part Of: Magnetic resonance in medicine. Volume 70:Issue 5(2013:Nov.)
• Page Start: 1360
• Page End: 1368
• Publication Date: 2012-12-04
• Subjects: Nuclear magnetic resonance -- Periodicals; Electron paramagnetic resonance -- Periodicals; 616.07548
• DOI: 10.1002/mrm.24564
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0740-3194

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>A versatile method for generating T<sub>2</sub>‐weighting is a T<sub>2</sub>‐preparation module, which has been used successfully for cardiac imaging at 1.5T. Although it has been applied at 3T, higher fields (<italic>B</italic><sub>0</sub> ≥ 3T) can degrade <italic>B</italic><sub>0</sub> and <italic>B</italic><sub>1</sub> homogeneity and result in nonuniform magnetization preparation. For cardiac imaging, blood flow and cardiac motion may further impair magnetization preparation. In this study, a novel T<sub>2</sub>‐preparation module containing multiple adiabatic <italic>B</italic><sub>1</sub>‐insensitive refocusing pulses is introduced and compared with three previously described modules [(a) composite MLEV4, (b) modified BIR‐4 (mBIR‐4), and (c) Silver‐Hoult–pair]. In the static phantom, the proposed module provided similar or better <italic>B</italic><sub>0</sub> and <italic>B</italic><sub>1</sub> insensitivity than the other modules. In human subjects (<italic>n</italic> = 21), quantitative measurement of image signal coefficient of variation, reflecting overall image inhomogeneity, was lower for the proposed module (0.10) than for MLEV4 (0.15, <italic>P</italic> < 0.0001), mBIR‐4 (0.27, <italic>P</italic> < 0.0001), and Silver‐Hoult–pair (0.14, <italic>P</italic> = 0.001) modules. Similarly, qualitative analysis revealed that the proposed module had the best image quality scores and ranking (both, <italic>P</italic> < 0.0001). In conclusion, we present a new T<sub>2</sub>‐preparation module, which is shown to be robust for cardiac imaging at 3T in comparison with existing methods. Magn Reson Med 70:1360–1368, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.</p> </abstract>