Yuji Iwadate1, Anja C.S. Brau2, Hiroyuki Kabasawa1
1Global Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare Japan, Hino, Tokyo, Japan; 2Global Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare, Menlo Park, CA, United States
Respiratory-gated fat-suppressed 3D spoiled gradient-recalled echo with navigator echo (Navigated LAVA) enables 3D T1-weighted imaging of free breathing patients with considerably reduced motion artifacts. In this work, enhanced navigated LAVA was developed to address the spin saturation effect on navigator signal, utilizing a wait insertion and a variable flip angle scheme. Variable flip angle scheme was realized by combination of ramp-up, ramp-down, and attenuation strategies in order to optimize the point spread function. In volunteer imaging, enhanced navigated LAVA not only increased navigator signal but also improved image quality of LAVA itself.