Simultaneous T2* and T2 weighted imaging based on ultrafast SPEN MRI

This work presents new sequences to acquire multislice images with different contrasts –a T2* weighted one for enhancing BOLD and a T2 weighted one for faithful location– in a single shot. The sequences rely on SPatiotemporal ENcoding (SPEN), an ultrafast MRI method with immunity to artifacts, and they utilize a “full-refocusing” mode to obtain a T2 weighted image and a “non full-refocusing” mode to obtain T2* weighted images. Two variants are proposed, differing in the order with which they collect their T2*- and the T2-weighted information, and are demonstrated with in vivo studies of brain and kidney in mice.