Cheng Li1, Jeremy F. Magland1, Xia Zhao1, Alan C. Seifert2, and Felix W. Wehrli1
1Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States, 2Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States
An IR-based long-T2
suppressed PETRA sequence was designed and optimized to image sub-millisecond-T2 tissue components, e.g.
collagen-bound bone water. To minimize scan time signal was sampled repeatedly
after each inversion with individual excitation flip-angle designed to yield
constant short-T2 signal
amplitude. A fast non-iterative reconstruction algorithm combined with
phase-modulated excitation pulse was applied to minimize image artifacts due to
non-uniform excitation profile, allowing for increased flip-angle and higher
SNR. Optimized
long-T2 suppressed PETRA allows imaging of bone matrix water,
opening up new possibilities for anatomic bone imaging at isotropic resolution
and quantification in clinically practical scan times.