Rapid Acquisition of PET Attenuation Maps from Highly Undersampled UTE Images Using Sparse-SENSE Reconstruction

Andrew Peter Aitken¹, Christoph Kolbitsch¹, Tobias Schaeffter¹, Claudia Prieto¹

Attenuation correction (AC) maps that accurately depict bone are required for precise PET reconstruction. Segmented AC maps can be obtained from ultrashort echo time (UTE) MR imaging. However, the clinical use of high resolution UTE in simultaneous PET/MR is limited by the long scan time (>7 minutes for the head). We show, in prospectively undersampled acquisitions, that compressed sensing combined with parallel imaging can be used to reduce the scan time to less than one minute, while retaining accurate AC-maps with respect to those produced from fully sampled data.