Breath-held MR cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) using a 3D Dixon fat-water separated balanced steady state free precession sequence.
A novel 3D breath-held Dixon fat-water separated balanced steady state free precession (b-SSFP) sequence for MR cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is described and its potential clinical utility assessed in a series of patients. The main motivation is to develop a robust breath-held alternative to the respiratory gated 3D Fast Spin Echo (FSE) sequence, the current clinical sequence of choice for MRCP. Respiratory gated acquisitions are susceptible to motion artifacts and blurring in patients with significant diaphragmatic drift, erratic respiratory rhythms or sleep apnea. A two point Dixon fat-water separation scheme was developed which eliminates signal loss arising from B0 inhomogeneity effects and minimizes artifacts from perturbation of the b-SSFP steady state. Preliminary results from qualitative analysis of 49 patients demonstrate robust performance of the 3D Dixon b-SSFP sequence with diagnostic image quality acquired in a 20-24s breath-hold.
['Glockner|James F|JF|', 'Saranathan|Manojkumar|M|', 'Bayram|Ersin|E|', 'Lee|Christine U|CU|']
D000273:Adipose Tissue D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D000465:Algorithms D062485:Breath Holding D002648:Child D002675:Child, Preschool D049448:Cholangiopancreatography, Magnetic Resonance D004066:Digestive System Diseases D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007089:Image Enhancement D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D015203:Reproducibility of Results D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity D013382:Subtraction Technique D014867:Water D055815:Young Adult
MRCP steady state free precession Biliary