Rdiger
Stirnberg1, Tony Stcker1, N. Jon Shah1,2
1Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine
- 4, Medical Imaging Physics, Forschungszentrum Jlich GmbH, Jlich, Germany;
2Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology, RWTH Aachen
University, Aachen, Germany
It
was recently shown that a diffusion weighted Single-shot Stimulated Echo
Acquisition Mode (DW ss-STEAM) pulse sequence is an alternative to the
standard DW EPI at high fields. By designing dedicated variable flip angles
(vFA) for accurate, advanced signal shaping without RF spoiling, more signal
is utilised. A clear advantage is drawn from parallel imaging due to less
phase encoding lines. The results are: EPI-comparable SNR and acquisition
time without geometrical distortions at high fields. A basis is now
established to potentially incorporate all transverse coherences without
interferences (current investigations) promising a further general SNR
multiplication of two.