COMSPIRA3D: A combined approach to radial and spiral 3D MRI

A combined approach to 3D radial and spiral MRI is presented. Although radial and spiral MRI have some similarities from the viewpoint of their mathematical properties, sequence design, and reconstruction procedures, they are usually implemented in separate pulse sequences. In this article, a common mathematical foundation for both sampling methods is used. The COMSPIRA3D (COMbined SPIral and RAdial 3D) pulse sequence permits one to choose between spiral and radial center‐out k‐space trajectories in two and three dimensions. Several numerical simulations to study possible artifacts and images resulting from the actual implementation of COMSPIRA3D in a 4.7 T system are shown. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson 29B: 115–124, 2006.