CSF-gated MR imaging of the spine: theory and clinical implementation

A spine phantom and cervical spines of seven volunteers were studied with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-gated magnetic resonance imaging to optimize acquisition factors reducing CSF flow artifacts. Peripheral gating was performed with either an infrared reflectance photoplethysmograph or peripheral arterial Doppler signal. The effects of effective repetition time, echo train, trigger delay, number of sections, and imaging plane on image quality were evaluated. Gated imaging of oscillatory CSF motion simulated constant-velocity flow and reduced CSF flow artifacts caused by cardiac-dependent temporal phase-shift effects. Velocity compensation on sagittal even-echo images with a symmetric short-echo time echo train reduced the remaining CSF flow artifacts caused by spatial phase-shift effects. Overall gated imaging time was not increased compared with nongated imaging and was reduced when improved image quality permitted the use of fewer excitations. These results suggest that the combination of CSF gating and flow compensation is clinically useful and efficient because it improves image quality without prolonging imaging time.