Radiology, Vol 181, 25-32, Copyright © 1991 by Radiological Society of North America
T1-weighted snapshot gradient-echo MR imaging of the abdomen
AE Holsinger-Bampton, SJ Riederer, NG Campeau, RL Ehman and CD Johnson
Magnetic Resonance Laboratory, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905.
Magnetization-prepared ultrashort-repetition-time (snapshot) gradient- echo
imaging is a technique of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with many
potential applications. In the application of this technique to abdominal
imaging, the effects on contrast of phase-encoding order, resolution,
preparation-phase inversion time, and data-acquisition flip angle were
predicted and then demonstrated with images obtained in examinations of 22
patients. In the analysis of 36 liver lesions, snapshot images were
compared with corresponding T1-weighted spin-echo images on the basis of
signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of liver and contrast-to-noise ratio (C/N)
between liver and lesion. Snapshot MR imaging produced abdominal images
with 192 (or 256) x 256 resolution, negligible motion artifact, and C/N
1.29 times (+/- 0.48) higher than that in T1-weighted spin-echo imaging.
Acquisition times were 13 seconds or less, short enough for imaging during
suspended respiration. Also, use of a phased-array multicoil further
improves the S/N in snapshot images without acquisition-time penalty.
