Ultrafast Near-Isotropic Spatial Resolution 3D Balanced-SSFP Dixon Imaging in the Breast

Manojkumar Saranathan¹, Ersin Bayram², Christine Lee³

T2 imaging in the breast is most commonly performed using a 2D Fast Spin Echo (FSE) pulse sequence with a high in-plane spatial resolution and 3-4 mm slice thickness. Balanced steady-state free precession (b-SSFP) techniques yield high SNR images in short scan times with a T2-like image contrast. We investigated a new 3D technique that combines balanced steady-state free precession imaging with a two-point Dixon fat-water reconstruction algorithm [2] for robust fat-separated volumetric imaging of the breast with near isotropic spatial resolution in short scan times.