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Biomedical subjects

B Aldefeld

Publications and source records attributed to B Aldefeld.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Improved 3D spiral imaging for coronary MR angiography.

Thin-slab 3D spiral imaging has been used for MR angiography to image selected coronary arteries. Improved scan efficiency was achieved using a train of multiple spiral interleaves within each single R-R interval acquired in the late diastole. Data acquisition was performed during free breathing, using navigator gating. Additionally, prospective slice tracking was applied to further reduce the sensitivity to motion. The application of a T(2)-preparation pulse and fat suppression increased the contrast between blood and myocardium. Experiments performed on healthy volunteers are presented to show the feasibility of this approach, which allows coronary artery imaging of selected vessels within a few minutes. Magn Reson Med 45:172-175, 2001.

Coronary Vessels↗

Reversed spiral MR imaging.

Reversed spiral imaging is discussed as an approach that provides strong intrinsic T *(2) contrast without the need for long repetition times. In comparison to the conventional forward spiral method, the T *(2) contrast achieved by reversing the spiral k-space trajectory is similar and differs only for very fast relaxing species. The flow and motion sensitivity of the reversed approach is the same if flow compensation is applied, except for a flow-dependent voxel shift and the sign of the artifact pattern. By simulations as well as phantom and in vivo experiments, it is shown that the image quality in reversed spiral imaging is comparable to that obtained with the forward spiral method.

Blood Flow Velocity↗

Improvements in spiral MR imaging.

The basic principles of spiral MR image acquisition and reconstruction are summarised with the aim to explain how high quality spiral images can be obtained. The sensitivity of spiral imaging to off-resonance effects, gradient system imperfections and concomitant fields are outlined and appropriate measures for corrections are discussed in detail. Phantom experiments demonstrate the validity of the correction approaches. Furthermore, in-vivo results are shown to demonstrate the applicability of the corrections under in-vivo conditions. The spiral image quality thus obtained was found to be comparable to that obtainable with robust spin warp sequences.

Brain↗

Effects of gradient anisotropy in MRI.

A gradient system is anisotropic if the impulse responses of at least two of the gradient channels, x, y, or z, differ from each other. Such an undesired condition may arise, for example, from differences between the gradient channels with respect to eddy currents or from unbalanced time delays in the electronic components. Depending on the degree of anisotropy, the actual gradient then deviates from the nominal, desired gradient under certain oblique orientations during the transient periods of gradient switching. The adverse consequence is degradation of image quality, such as distortion, ghosting, and blurring. In this paper, a theoretical analysis is given of the basic effects. Furthermore, the implications for the MRI process and possible correction methods are described. The effects of anisotropy are shown experimentally for echo-planar imaging and two-dimensional selective RF excitation with spiral gradient pulses.

Anisotropy↗

On spatially selective RF excitation and its analogy with spiral MR image acquisition.

The basic principles of the design of spatially selective RF pulses are described, and their analogy with MR image acquisition and reconstruction is shown. The paper focuses on RF-pulse design and imaging schemes in which spiral k-space trajectories are used. The sensitivity of RF excitation to gradient-system imperfections and to spatially varying off-resonance are analyzed, and suitable measures of correction are discussed. The spatial resolution obtainable with selective RF pulses and the consequences of the linearity of the pulse-design problem are examined. Phantom experiments showing the performance of multidimensional spatially selective RF pulses further illustrate the analogy with MR image acquisition.

Fourier Analysis↗