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Updated: Jun 14, 2026
Magnetic Resonance Elastography Methodology for the Evaluation of Tissue Engineered Construct Growth
Published on: February 9, 2012
Fusing acceleration and saturation techniques with wave amplitude labeling of time-shifted zeniths MR elastography
Hui Wang1,2,3, Amol Pednekar2,3, Jean A Tkach2,3
1MR Clinical Science, Philips, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
Purpose:
To design a new 2D gradient recalled echo MR elastography (MRE) pulse sequence with inflow saturation for measuring liver stiffness in half the breath-hold time compared to standard of care (SC) 2D GRE MRE sequences.
Methods:
FASTWALTZ (fusing acceleration and saturation techniques with wave amplitude labeling of time-shifted zeniths) MRE employs an interleaved dual TR strategy with wave amplitude labeling and compressed SENSE undersampling to reduce breath-hold time while incorporating inflow saturation to suppress flow artifacts. The sequence was implemented and compared with SC MRE both in phantoms and in vivo in 5 asymptomatic volunteers. Stiffness values, region of interest size, and breath-hold times were compared between sequences.
Results:
Stiffness values were comparable between FASTWALTZ and SC MRE for both phantoms and in-vivo data. In volunteers, the group mean stiffness values at 60 Hz and region of interest size were 1.96 ± 0.30 kilopascals and 2279 ± 516 mm2 for SC MRE, and 1.95 ± 0.29 kilopascals and 2061 ± 464 mm2 for FASTWALTZ. Breath-hold duration for FASTWALTZ was 6.3 s compared to 13.3 s for SC MRE.
Conclusion:
FASTWALTZ provides comparable stiffness values in half the breath-hold time compared to SC MRE and may have clinical benefits in patients with limited breath-holding capacity.
