HIGH RESOLUTION SPIRAL MPRAGE

Northern California Institute/Res/Edu, San Francisco CA

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Abstract

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. This an added subproject to Acquisition Core, Project 1. This subcontract is a direct collaboration with Dr. Schuff for the development of a new sequence for brain imaging based on spiral k-space sampling. The specific aim of the subproject "High resolution spiral MPRAGE" is to provide a robust implementation of an MPRAGE sequence using a spiral-based k-space acquisition scheme. MPRAGE (magnetization-prepared rapid gradient echo) is an MR imaging technique used to acquire structural brain images. Expected advantages of a spiral readout implementation are improved T1 contrast and signal-to-noise ratio with high image resolution due to the time-efficient data acquisition. A further advantage is the possibility to accomplish extremely short echo times, which minimizes additional transverse T2 and T2* relaxation effects. This is especially important for high field systems because of the short transverse relaxation times. With additional oversampling in the k-space center, motion artifacts can be greatly reduced. Also, because of negligible gradient moments at the k-space center, the sequence is robust to flow artifacts. All these advantages make the spiral MPRAGE a formidable basic tool for advanced structural brain imaging research. The subcontract covers the development of a spiral MPRAGE sequence for a Bruker MedSpec 4 Tesla MR scanner system, running Siemens Syngo software version VA25.