Kevin Michael Johnson1, Scott K. Nagle1, 2, Sean B. Fain1, 2
1Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madsion, Madison, WI, United States; 2Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States
Detailed lung structure is poorly visualized with conventional MRI due to low tissue density and rapid signal decay. Ultra-short echo time (UTE) imaging has long held promise to dramatically enhance signal from short T2/T2* species. Due to a long T1 and low tissue density, 3D UTE lung imaging remains extraordinarily sensitive to artifacts from Gibbs ringing, physiological motion, eddy current induced errors, and low signal to noise ratio (SNR). In this work, we develop a robust technique for free-breathing, high-resolution 3D UTE imaging that aims to mitigate sources of diagnostically obscuring artifacts.