1Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Imaging, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), houston, TX, United States, 2Philips Healthcare, Cleveland, OH, United States
Combining the contrast of susceptibility
weighted imaging (SWI) and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) allows simultaneous
visualization of multiple sclerosis lesions and the penetrating veins and iron
deposition. However, the need for image registration, to account for patient
motion between the scans, adds to the complexity of the post-processing
pipeline, and introduces undesirable blurring of the image. We have developed
an interleaved sequence for simultaneous acquisition of 3D FLAIR and SWI data,
which produces self-registered images in a clinically feasible time, greatly
simplifying the post-processing steps and eliminating interpolation effects. The
interleaved time delays in between the FLAIR and SWI modules provide a degree
of freedom for further optimization of the image contrast. Experiments in MS
patients show the utility of the proposed sequence.
