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Rapid extended coverage simultaneous multisection black-blood vessel wall MR imaging
Venkatesh Mani1, Vitalii V Itskovich, Michael Szimtenings
1Imaging Science Laboratories, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1234, New York, NY 10029-6574, USA.
Radiology
|June 29, 2004
Summary
A new magnetic resonance imaging technique, rapid extended coverage (REX) rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement (RARE), significantly speeds up black-blood vessel wall imaging. This advanced method allows for faster acquisition of detailed aortic wall images without compromising image quality.
Area of Science:
- Medical Imaging
- Cardiovascular MRI
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Atherosclerotic disease affects the aorta, necessitating advanced imaging techniques for vessel wall assessment.
- Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for vessel wall imaging can be time-consuming.
- Double inversion-recovery (DIR) techniques are crucial for black-blood imaging, suppressing blood signal to visualize the vessel wall.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate a novel two-dimensional rapid extended coverage (REX) RARE pulse sequence for simultaneous multisection double inversion-recovery (DIR) black-blood vessel wall MRI.
- To assess the feasibility and efficiency of the REX-RARE sequence for aortic vessel wall imaging in healthy subjects and patients with atherosclerosis.
- To compare the performance of the REX-RARE sequence with conventional single-section DIR RARE imaging in terms of acquisition time and image quality.
Main Methods:
- Development of a 2D REX-RARE pulse sequence enabling simultaneous multisection DIR black-blood imaging.
- Application of the REX-RARE sequence for aortic vessel wall MRI in five healthy volunteers and five patients with atherosclerotic disease.
- Acquisition of up to 20 aortic wall sections in under 1 minute with a spatial resolution of 0.97 x 0.97 x 3 mm³.
- Comparison of signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR) with conventional single-section DIR RARE imaging.
Main Results:
- The REX-RARE sequence achieved simultaneous acquisition of multiple aortic wall sections (up to 20) in less than 1 minute.
- Significantly higher signal-to-noise ratios per unit time per section were observed with REX-RARE (16.0 +/- 2.45) compared to conventional methods (7.5 +/- 1.10, P <.05).
- A 17-fold improvement in acquisition time was achieved, demonstrating a substantial reduction in scan duration without significant degradation of contrast-to-noise ratios.
Conclusions:
- The developed REX-RARE pulse sequence offers a significant advancement in black-blood vessel wall MRI.
- This technique substantially shortens aortic imaging acquisition times, making it more practical for clinical use.
- The REX method enables efficient and high-quality imaging of the aortic vessel wall, crucial for diagnosing and monitoring atherosclerotic disease.