Oliver Bieri1, Carl
Ganter2, Klaus Scheffler1
1Department of
Medical Radiology, Radiological Physics, University of Basel Hospital, Basel,
Switzerland; 2Institut fr Radiologie, Klinikum rechts der Isar,
Technische Universitt Mnchen, Munich, Germany
In this work, a new and truly diffusion-weighted (i.e., relaxation time independent) SSFP technique is introduced using a double-echo steady state approach (true-dwDESS). As a result, quantitative SSFP DWI can be performed in the very-rapid-pulsing regime which offers substantially increased SNR and scanning efficiency. Finally, high-resolution quantitative DWI is demonstrated for human articular cartilage in the knee joint at 3.0T.