Abstract
A fast, high quality MR study protocol for the neonatal brain is proposed. It allows to achieve in little more than 4 minutes and an half a complete set of strong T2 and T1-weighted high quality images of the entire neonatal brain. To optimize the signal to noise ratio a circular polarized coil with a small diameter (20 cm) was used. For the T2-weighted sequence a fast spin-echo sequence with and echo train of 15, TR 5200 and TE 132 was performed, whereas a fast true inversion recovery with an echo train of 11 was utilized for the T1-weighted sequence. Field of view was mainly 130 mm for both sequences with a pixel size of 0,81times0,51 and 0,74times0,51 respectively. Up to now 30 patients were studied with this technique. The short total acquisition time allows more reliable studies in non sedated patients; the use of true inversion recovery sequence allows better contrast resolution between gray matter and unmyelinated white matter and between unmyelinated and myelinated white matter.
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