Abstract #2907

Chemical shift artifact of the third kind: Implications for gradient-echo based contrast enhanced imaging

Jamal J. Derakhshan¹, Elizabeth S. McDonald², Evan S. Siegelman³, Mitchell D. Schnall³, and Felix W. Wehrli⁴

¹Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States, ²Radiology, Breast Imaging Division, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States, ³Radiology, Abdominal Imaging Division, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States, ⁴Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States

A common subtraction band artifact in breast MRI was not understood, causing reduced confidence in clinical interpretation. The source of the artifact is shown to be a subtle chemical shift effect between fat and water in the presence of contrast enhancement. The phenomenon is now generalized and characterized at all off-resonance angles. Strong echo-time and fat signal dependence may lead to enhancement errors as a function of scanner hardware, field strength and fat suppression limitations. A time and SNR-equivalent in-phase VIBE sequence eliminates the artifact; gradient-echo based contrast enhanced imaging can be performed in-phase to eliminate these important potential pitfalls.

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