Practical Aspects of Shortening Acquisition Time in Brain MR Susceptibility-Weighted Imaging

Abstract

Magnetic resonance susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI), a novel 3D gradient echo MRI sequence exploiting phase and magnitude data for post-processing, is able to detect blood, iron, calcification and deoxygenated hemoglobin content for brain. SWI has been widely used to evaluate cerebral vascular disorders, trauma, multiple sclerosis, and tumors. We have also used SWI to evaluate acute stroke patients to identify thrombosis and possible penumbra. The acquisition was too long for examining acute stroke patients due to motion from agitation and mental changes. We have altered the parameters of phase resolution, voxel size, matrix size and partial Fourier to shorten the acquisition time to improve the diagnostic quality of SWI for acute stroke patients. The result was to reduce the acquisition time from 3:46 min to 2:14 min thereby providing a helpful tool in screening stroke patients.

Keywords

susceptibility-weighted imaging acquisition shortening MRI stroke

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Haacke

Mittal

. Susceptibility-weighted imaging: technical aspects and clinical applications, part 1. Am J Neuroradiol. 2009; 30: 19–30.

Haacke

Cheng

YCN

. Susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI). Magn Reson Med. 2004; 52: 612–618.

Reichenbach

Haacke

. High-resolution BOLD venographic imaging: a window into brain function. NMR Biomed. 2001; 14: 453–467.

Reichenbach

Ven Katesan

Schillinger

. Small vessels in the human brain: MR venography with deoxyhemoglobin as an intrinsic contrast agent. Radiology. 1997; 204: 272–277.

Sehgal

Delproposto

Haacke

. Clinical applications of neuroimaging with susceptibility-weighted imaging. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2005; 22: 439–450.

Tsai

Kao

Tsui

. Susceptibility weighted imaging and cerebrovascular disorders. Neuroradiol J. 2011; 24: 121–127.

Tsui

Tsai

Hasso

. Susceptibility-weighted imaging for differential diagnosis of cerebral vascular pathology: a pictorial review. J Neurol Sci. 2009; 287: 7–16.

Tan

van Schujndel

Pouwels

PJW

. MR venography of multiple sclerosis. Am J Neuroradiol, 2000. 21 (6): p. 1039–1042.

Mittal

Kish

. Identification of calcification with MRI using susceptibility-weighted imaging: a case study. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2009. 29 (1): p. 177–182.

10.

Haacke

E.M.

Mittal

. Characterizing iron deposition in multiple sclerosis lesions using susceptibility weighted imaging. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2009; 29: 537–544.

11.

Hermier

Nighoghossian

. Contribution of susceptibility-weighted imaging to acute stroke assessment. Stroke. 2004; 35: 1989–1994.

12.

Haacke

Ayaz

Khan

. Establishing a baseline phase behavior in magnetic resonance imaging to determine normal vs. abnormal iron content in the brain. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2007; 26: 256–264.