Feng Xu1, Wenbo Li2, Dapeng Liu2, Dan Zhu3, Michael Schär4, Kelly Myers4, Qin Qin2. 1. The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA. Electronic address: fxu6@jhmi.edu. 2. The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA. 3. Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. 4. The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Spectrally selective fat saturation (FatSat) sequence is commonly used to suppress signal from adipose tissue. Conventional SINC-shaped pulses are sensitive to B0 off-resonance and B1+ offset. Uniform fat saturation with large spatial coverage is especially challenging for the body and breast MRI. The aim of this study is to develop spectrally selective FatSat pulses that offer more immunity to B0/B1+ field inhomogeneities than SINC pulses and evaluate them in bilateral breast imaging at 3 T. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Optimized composite pulses (OCP) were designed based on the optimal control theory with robustness to a targeted B0/ B1+ conditions. OCP pulses also allows flexible flip angles to meet different requirements. Comparisons with the vendor-provided SINC pulses were conducted by numerical simulation and in vivo scans using a 3D T1-weighted (T1w) gradient-echo (GRE) sequence with coverage of the whole-breast. RESULTS: Simulation revealed that OCP pulses yielded almost half of the transition band and much less sensitivity to B1+ inhomogeneity compared to SINC pulses with B0 off-resonance within ±200 Hz and B1+ scale error within ±0.3 (P < 0.001). Across five normal subjects, OCP FatSat pulses produced 25-41% lower residual fat signals (P < 0.05) with 27-36% less spatial variation (P < 0.05) than SINC. CONCLUSION: In contrast to conventional SINC-shaped pulses, the newly designed OCP FatSat pulses mitigated challenges of wide range of B0/ B1+ field inhomogeneities and achieved more uniform fat suppression in bilateral breast T1w imaging at 3 T.
PURPOSE: Spectrally selective fat saturation (FatSat) sequence is commonly used to suppress signal from adipose tissue. Conventional SINC-shaped pulses are sensitive to B0 off-resonance and B1+ offset. Uniform fat saturation with large spatial coverage is especially challenging for the body and breast MRI. The aim of this study is to develop spectrally selective FatSat pulses that offer more immunity to B0/B1+ field inhomogeneities than SINC pulses and evaluate them in bilateral breast imaging at 3 T. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Optimized composite pulses (OCP) were designed based on the optimal control theory with robustness to a targeted B0/ B1+ conditions. OCP pulses also allows flexible flip angles to meet different requirements. Comparisons with the vendor-provided SINC pulses were conducted by numerical simulation and in vivo scans using a 3D T1-weighted (T1w) gradient-echo (GRE) sequence with coverage of the whole-breast. RESULTS: Simulation revealed that OCP pulses yielded almost half of the transition band and much less sensitivity to B1+ inhomogeneity compared to SINC pulses with B0 off-resonance within ±200 Hz and B1+ scale error within ±0.3 (P < 0.001). Across five normal subjects, OCP FatSat pulses produced 25-41% lower residual fat signals (P < 0.05) with 27-36% less spatial variation (P < 0.05) than SINC. CONCLUSION: In contrast to conventional SINC-shaped pulses, the newly designed OCP FatSat pulses mitigated challenges of wide range of B0/ B1+ field inhomogeneities and achieved more uniform fat suppression in bilateral breast T1w imaging at 3 T.
Authors: Scott B Reeder; Charles A McKenzie; Angel R Pineda; Huanzhou Yu; Ann Shimakawa; Anja C Brau; Brian A Hargreaves; Garry E Gold; Jean H Brittain Journal: J Magn Reson Imaging Date: 2007-03 Impact factor: 4.813