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An ECG-triggered magnetization-prepared segmented 3D fast gradient echo sequence was developed to perform pulmonary arterial MR angiography. A selective inversion recovery pulse was used in the magnetization preparation to suppress venous vasculature. A real-time gating technique based on navigator echoes was implemented to reduce respiration effects. Pencil-beam navigator echoes were acquired immediately before and after the readout train and processed in real-time to dynamically measure the diaphragm position, which was used to control data acquisition with an accept-or-reject-reacquire logic. In a study of 10 volunteers, a gated 3D acquisition with 28 slices required on average approximately 4 min of acquisition time, and six to seven segmental arteries related to the interlobar trunk of the pulmonary artery were depicted. The use of SIR pulse reduced venous signal by 99%. The gated acquisitions were superior to the ungated acquisitions (n = 10, P < 0.005). The real-time navigator gating technique is effective for reduction of respiration effects and thereby makes high resolution 3D MRA of the pulmonary arteries feasible.

New centric phase encoding orders are introduced for transient state three-dimensional MR imaging. Unlike previous centric orders, these variants are not fixed with respect to differences in the relative y and z fields of view, but are tailored to account for the, differential degrees of gradient dephasing in the Ky and Kz phase encoding directions and thus maintain the highest weighting for the most central k-space values. The new centric orders are compared with previous methods in both simulation and experimental magnetization-prepared MR angiography of the carotid and renal arteries. In comparison with other tested centric orders, the new methods provided better retention of true vessel shape caused by isotropic blurring across the phase encoding plane. In addition, the new methods provided increased contrast, with the degree of improvement over previous methods depending on vessel orientation, size, and degree of inflow.

A technique is described for angiographic imaging of the renal arteries with acquisition performed over several periods of suspended respiration. The 3D Fourier transform (FT) gradient-echo angiographic sequence uses magnetization preparation and appropriately chosen delay times for background nulling and time-of-flight enhancement of the vasculature. The sequence was applied to 10 volunteers, each of whom was imaged in three ways: (i) over a series of breathholds in which feedback was provided to enable reproducible breathholding; (ii) over a series of breathholds with no feedback; and (iii) over continuous respiration. Results were evaluated by measuring the transverse extent of the well-delineated renal vasculature and by noting the distal extent of the vasculature branching (main, segmental, and interlobar branches). The transverse extent of renal vasculature visible with breathhold feedback, breathholding, and free breathing was 6.1 +/- 0.9 cm, 5.0 +/- 1.8 cm, and 4.0 +/- 1.4 cm, respectively (mean +/- SD). Breathhold feedback enabled visualization of segmental renal arteries bilaterally in all 10 volunteers.

To overcome limitations in the signal to noise ratio (S/N) of previously proposed multiple-quantum filters (MQFs), designed for editing the GABA A2 multiplet from the creatine (Cr) singlet in proton spectroscopy of brain, a new double-quantum filter is proposed which significantly enhances S/N (thereby making it comparable with the spin-echo difference editing technique) while maintaining the superior Cr suppression and zero vulnerability to subtraction errors of previously proposed MQFs. The S/N enhancement results primarily from a significant reduction in transverse-relaxation losses, achieved by shortening the filter sequence by approximately 70%, first by altering the criterion that determines the initial evolution period and, second, by effectively eliminating the refocusing time prior to the start of acquisition. The altered evolution time criterion also leads to an increase in the intrinsic yield of the filter from 25 to 39%. The analysis of the filter design was verified in vitro on phantoms of GABA in D2O, and the maintenance of editing capability, i.e., Cr suppression by more than 1600, was demonstrated on rat brain extracts.

The response of the strongly coupled AB system of citrate to the STEAM and PRESS spatial localization sequences is developed analytically and then verified experimentally at 2.35 T. At this field strength, the response predicted by the complete strong-coupling calculation is shown to differ greatly from that of the simpler weak-coupling approximation. It is shown that the strong-coupling effects induce a significant field-strength dependence in the time-dependent modulations of the response to either sequence. These effects are illustrated for the STEAM and PRESS responses at field strengths of 1.5, 2.35, and 4.7 T. Independent of the chosen sequence, the increase in the signal-to-noise (S/N) of the frequency response with increasing field strength is shown to be significantly less for the citrate system than for uncoupled spins. The factors which weaken the S/N dependence of the citrate AB signal with increasing field strength are quantified and discussed.