Abstract #3318

Sharma P, De Becker J, Friel H, Beck G, Burrow B, Martin D

This study delvelops a new liver perfusion timing technique to enable robust and repeatable arterial phase imaging (ABLE""). This was facilitated by a new sequence that acquires low frequency k-space segments during the initial portion of the scan (~4sec), before acquiring higher k-space values (CENTRA-Thrive). As a result, the effective timing of image contrast was controlled, rather than empirically timed methods where low k-space is distributed over the entire scan. The sequence was implemented 8 seconds after appearance of Gd in the celiac axis by using bolus-trak. Results showed that CENTRA-Thrive was optimally timed in 95% of cases compared to 67% for tradtional Thrive techniques (non-CENTRA). This method allows consistent arterial phase timing for liver tumor imaging, and allows for potential automation.