Abstract #2685

FLUSTER: A Combined Multiecho Radial/Cartesian Encoded Gradient Echo Sequence for Bone and Soft Tissue Segmentation

Andre Jan Willem van der Kouwe^1,2, Thomas Benner^1,2, Michael Hamm³, Sonia Nielles-Vallespin⁴, Bruce Fischl^5,6

¹Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; ²Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Brookline, MA, USA; ³Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc., Charlestown, MA, USA; ⁴Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany; ⁵Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; ⁶CSAIL, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

Automated whole head segmentation and bone identification requires various contrasts from the optimized scans used for automated brain morphometry. In particular, imaging bone using MR is challenging. We present a combined multiecho radial/Cartesian encoded spoiled gradient echo sequence that yields several contrasts in a single sequence including an ultrashort FID containing the signature of bone and later components that can be used to identify water and fat and estimate the B0 field offset. Quantitative spin density and T1 relaxation times can also be estimated, using established techniques, if more than one flip angle is collected.