Time-efficient interleaved human (23)Na and (1)H data acquisition at 7 T.

Area of Science:

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
• Biomedical Engineering
• Radiology

Background:

• Sodium MRI offers valuable insights into tissue physiology but is limited by long acquisition times.
• Proton MRI is standard but can be optimized by leveraging the relaxation periods of other nuclei.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and assess a flexible, time-efficient interleaved imaging approach for simultaneous proton and sodium knee MRI at 7 Tesla.
• To reduce overall scan duration for clinical applicability.

Main Methods:

• Implemented a software framework enabling flexible interleaving of SAR-validated proton (Dixon, T2*) and sodium (content, fluid-suppressed) sequences.
• Acquired images sequentially and in an interleaved fashion for comparison.
• Conducted phantom experiments and in vivo scans in healthy volunteers and one patient.

Main Results:

• Interleaved acquisition produced images comparable to sequential scans without artifacts.
• Achieved a nearly twofold reduction in scanning time, completing the protocol within 30 minutes.
• Demonstrated the feasibility of the interleaved approach in phantoms and human subjects.

Conclusions:

• Interleaved proton and sodium MRI is a time-efficient method for acquiring multi-contrast knee images at 7T.
• This approach facilitates the development of practical clinical protocols for sodium MRI.
• The technique holds promise for enhancing diagnostic capabilities in musculoskeletal imaging.