Spiral balanced steady-state free precession cardiac imaging

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
• Medical Imaging Physics
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Balanced steady-state free precession (SSFP) sequences offer high signal efficiency and blood-myocardium contrast, crucial for cardiac imaging.
• Spiral imaging techniques can acquire cardiac images efficiently, minimizing flow and motion artifacts.
• Combining SSFP with spiral imaging holds potential for real-time interactive cardiac MRI.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and demonstrate the feasibility of spiral balanced SSFP cardiac imaging at 1.5 Tesla for clinical application.
• To introduce new features for spiral balanced SSFP, including short, first-moment nulled spiral trajectories and interactive control of banding artifacts.
• To compare the performance of spiral balanced SSFP with spiral gradient-spoiled imaging in cardiac MRI.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of balanced SSFP sequences with spiral trajectories.
• Inclusion of short, first-moment nulled spiral trajectories to optimize data acquisition.
• Development of interactive control for spatial location of banding artifacts.
• Feasibility testing at 1.5 T field strength.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated feasibility of spiral balanced SSFP cardiac imaging at 1.5 T.
• Spiral balanced SSFP imaging showed significantly improved contrast compared to spiral gradient-spoiled imaging.
• Enhanced visualization of cardiac function, improved localization, and reduced blood flow artifacts were observed in over 40 volunteer and patient studies.

Conclusions:

• Spiral balanced SSFP is a feasible and effective technique for cardiac MRI at 1.5 T.
• The method offers superior contrast and artifact reduction compared to conventional spiral gradient-spoiled imaging.
• This technique holds promise for improved clinical assessment of cardiac function and anatomy.