title: Design of a logarithmic k-space spiral trajectory.
abstract: Spiral acquisitions are used in fast cardiac imaging because they traverse k-space efficiently and minimize flow artifacts. A variable pitch logarithmic spiral trajectory is designed to critically sample the low-frequency region in k-space and gradually undersample the high-frequency region. An approximate analytical expression for the trajectory provides a fast means to calculate the gradient waveforms and the sampled data points. A numerical method is introduced based on the trajectory curvature and the rate of change in the gradient magnitude with time for the composite Archimedean-logarithmic trajectory. The pulse sequence is implemented and images are acquired on phantoms and human hearts. The images show improved image resolution and some improvement in image quality as a result of increased extent in k-space and reduction in aliasing artifacts, respectively.
authors.affiliation: General Electric Corporate Research and Development, Schenectady, New York 12309, USA.
authors.forename: H E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Cline
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zong
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gai
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D006321:Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging