title: Accelerated three-dimensional cine phase contrast imaging using randomly undersampled echo planar imaging with compressed sensing reconstruction.
abstract: The aim of this study was to implement and evaluate an accelerated three-dimensional (3D) cine phase contrast MRI sequence by combining a randomly sampled 3D k-space acquisition sequence with an echo planar imaging (EPI) readout. An accelerated 3D cine phase contrast MRI sequence was implemented by combining EPI readout with randomly undersampled 3D k-space data suitable for compressed sensing (CS) reconstruction. The undersampled data were then reconstructed using low-dimensional structural self-learning and thresholding (LOST). 3D phase contrast MRI was acquired in 11 healthy adults using an overall acceleration of 7 (EPI factor of 3 and CS rate of 3). For comparison, a single two-dimensional (2D) cine phase contrast scan was also performed with sensitivity encoding (SENSE) rate 2 and approximately at the level of the pulmonary artery bifurcation. The stroke volume and mean velocity in both the ascending and descending aorta were measured and compared between two sequences using Bland-Altman plots. An average scan time of 3 min and 30 s, corresponding to an acceleration rate of 7, was achieved for 3D cine phase contrast scan with one direction flow encoding, voxel size of 2 × 2 × 3 mm(3) , foot-head coverage of 6 cm and temporal resolution of 30 ms. The mean velocity and stroke volume in both the ascending and descending aorta were statistically equivalent between the proposed 3D sequence and the standard 2D cine phase contrast sequence. The combination of EPI with a randomly undersampled 3D k-space sampling sequence using LOST reconstruction allows a seven-fold reduction in scan time of 3D cine phase contrast MRI without compromising blood flow quantification.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine (Cardiovascular Division), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Tamer A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Basha
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akçakaya
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Goddu
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nezafat
mesh_terms: D000054:Acceleration; D000328:Adult; D001011:Aorta / Q000502:physiology; D003287:Contrast Media; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media
keywords: 4D flow; compressed sensing; echo planar imaging; phase contrast MR