On Optimal Encoding of Flow in Three-Directional Phase-Contrast Sequences

Francesco Santini¹, Michael Markl², Klaus Scheffler¹

Three-directional flow encoding by means of phase-contrast sequence is becoming popular for clinical applications. In order to keep reasonable scan times, there is often the need to compromise on temporal resolution of the acquired dataset. In this work, an analysis of the behavior of the standard flow encoding method with respect to the dynamics of the velocity waveform is provided. An alternative reconstruction algorithm, implementing a view sharing principle along the velocity direction is presented, which improves the time resolution at no additional cost. The optimized reconstruction method is validated in vivo.