Super-resolved parallel MRI by spatiotemporal encoding

作者：Schmidt Rita; Baishya Bikash; Ben Eliezer Noam; Seginer Amir; Frydman Lucio^*

来源：Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 2014, 32(1): 60-70.

DOI：10.1016/j.mri.2013.07.007

• Ultrafast MRI
• Parallel acquisitions
• Spatiotemporal encoding
• SENSE
• Multi-band chirp pulse

Recent studies described an "ultrafast" scanning method based on spatiotemporal (SPEN) principles. SPEN demonstrates numerous potential advantages over EPI-based alternatives, at no additional expense in experimental complexity. An important aspect that SPEN still needs to achieve for providing a competitive ultrafast MRI acquisition alternative, entails exploiting parallel imaging algorithms without compromising its proven capabilities. The present work introduces a combination of multi-band frequency-swept pulses simultaneously encoding multiple, partial fields-of-view, together with a new algorithm merging a Super-Resolved SPEN image reconstruction and SENSE multiple-receiving methods. This approach enables one to reduce both the excitation and acquisition times of sub-second SPEN acquisitions by the customary acceleration factor R, without compromises in either the method's spatial resolution, SAR deposition, or capability to operate in multi-slice mode. The performance of these new single-shot imaging sequences and their ancillary algorithms were explored and corroborated on phantoms and human volunteers at 3 T. The gains of the parallelized approach were particularly evident when dealing with heterogeneous systems subject to major T-2/T-2* effects, as is the case upon single-scan imaging near tissue/air interfaces.

• 出版日期2014-1