title: Ultrafast 3D spin-echo acquisition improves Gadolinium-enhanced MRI signal contrast enhancement.
abstract: Long scan times of 3D volumetric MR acquisitions usually necessitate ultrafast in vivo gradient-echo acquisitions, which are intrinsically susceptible to magnetic field inhomogeneities. This is especially problematic for contrast-enhanced (CE)-MRI applications, where non-negligible T2* effect of contrast agent deteriorates the positive signal contrast and limits the available range of MR acquisition parameters and injection doses. To overcome these shortcomings without degrading temporal resolution, ultrafast spin-echo acquisitions were implemented. Specifically, a multiplicative acceleration factor from multiple spin echoes (×32) and compressed sensing (CS) sampling (×8) allowed highly-accelerated 3D Multiple-Modulation-Multiple-Echo (MMME) acquisition. At the same time, the CE-MRI of kidney with Gd-DOTA showed significantly improved signal enhancement for CS-MMME acquisitions (×7) over that of corresponding FLASH acquisitions (×2). Increased positive contrast enhancement and highly accelerated acquisition of extended volume with reduced RF irradiations will be beneficial for oncological and nephrological applications, in which the accurate in vivo 3D quantification of contrast agent concentration is necessary with high temporal resolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, UNIST, Ulsan, South Korea.
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, UNIST, Ulsan, South Korea.
authors.forename: F H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, UNIST, Ulsan, South Korea.
authors.forename: Y K
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Schlumberger Doll Research Center, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Paulsen
authors.affiliation: Schlumberger Doll Research Center, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Y Q
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Y R
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Research Institute of Radiology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Korea Basic Science Institute, Ochang, South Korea.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, UNIST, Ulsan, South Korea.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cho
mesh_terms: D003287:Contrast Media; D006571:Heterocyclic Compounds; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D009942:Organometallic Compounds
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D006571:Heterocyclic Compounds; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; C050823:gadolinium 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N,N',N'',N'''-tetraacetate