Ananth J. Madhuranthakam1, Mitsuharu
Miyoshi2, Robert L. Greenman3, David C. Alsop3
1Global Applied Science
Laboratory, GE Healthcare, Boston, MA, United States; 2Global
Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare, Tokyo, Japan; 3Radiology,
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center & Harvard Medical School, Boston,
MA, United States
A technique is presented to produce 3D T2-weighted black blood vessel wall images with uniform fat and water separation in a single acquisition. Fat/water separation is achieved by a modified 2-point Dixon reconstruction. Black blood is achieved by the use of motion sensitized driven equilibrium (MSDE), inserted in front of a 3D FSE acquisition that uses variable refocusing flip angles. The technique was used to image carotid vessels with black blood contrast and uniform fat and water separation. Vessel wall images with and without fat suppression from the same acquisition aids in plaque characterization with perfect co-registration.