Validation of 3D ultra-short TE (UTE) Phase-Contrast MRI for imaging of steady flow: initial phantom experiments

Assessment of blood flow is an important factor in diagnosis of cardiovascular disease. Vascular stenosis result in disturbed blood flow, flow recirculation, turbulence, and flow jet. These types of flows cause erroneous quantification of blood flow using conventional Phase contrast (PC) MRI techniques. Previous investigations have revealed that shorter Echo Times (TE) can decrease the quantification errors. In this paper, we performed phantom studies under steady flow to validate the UTE technique. Investigation of three different constant flow rates revealed a significant improvement in flow quantification and reduction of flow artifacts in comparison to Cartesian Phase-Contrast MRI.