Comparison Between Ungated Multi-Slice and Gated Single-Slice Double Inversion Recovery Prepared Black-Blood Fast Spin Echo Sequences Applied at 3T

Andrew J. Patterson¹, Victoria E. Young¹, Martin J. Graves¹, Jonathan H. Gillard¹

Double inversion recovery prepared, fast spin echo, black blood imaging has been widely used for assessing carotid plaque tissue composition. The protocol is used to obtain T₁-, T₂- and PD-weighted contrast. This study compares the between subject and within subject differences in the signal-to-noise ratio and the contrast-to-noise ratio from single- and multi-slice acquisition using both a gated and ungated trigger.