Karl-Heinz Herrmann1,
Martin Krmer1, Martin Stenzel2, Hans-Joachim Mentzel2,
Jrgen R. Reichenbach1
1Medical
Physics Group, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology I, Jena
University Hospital - Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany; 2Pediatric
Radiology, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology I, Jena
University Hospital - Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
Three young patients suffering from different lung diseases are examined using a high resolution, spoiled gradient echo, 3D radial center-out UTE sequence with free breathing acquisition. The resulting images provide sufficient resolution and SNR to confidently detect small lesions or diffuse ground glass opacities. The echo time of 70s overcomes the very fast T2* relaxation in the lung while the 3D radial trajectory with oversampling in all directions suppresses all fold-over artifacts and renders the images very robust against cardiac, respiratory and patient motion. UTE is a very promising sequence technique for assessment of pediatric and young adult patients in whom computed tomography should be avoided, as the ionizing radiation issue is of most concern in young patients.