Body MRI using IDEAL.

OBJECTIVE: The intrinsic differences of water and fat protons in the MR environment allow selective interrogation of their contribution to the MR signal. Fat-suppression techniques and chemical shift imaging are routinely used in clinical body MRI. Iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least-squares estimation (IDEAL) is a novel imaging technique for separating fat and water.
CONCLUSION: This article describes the basic principles of IDEAL MRI and illustrates the use of IDEAL imaging as an alternative to fat-suppression techniques and chemical shift imaging for body MRI.