Ultra Short Gradient Echo Imaging of the Prostate at 7T

Gregory John Metzger¹, Steen Moeller¹, Patrick J. Bolan¹, Eddie J. Auerbach¹, Jang-Yeon Park¹, Michael Garwood¹

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of an ultra-short TE 3D radial sequence, for imaging the prostate at 7T. This technique is desirable for DCE-MRI because it would greatly reduce both the large T2* effect of paramagnetic contrast agents at high field, and the inflow artifacts that can bias the measurement of the arterial input function. Furthermore the sequence gives spatially isotropic resolution and, when combined with sparse temporal sampling methods, can provide very high temporal resolution. This work demonstrates the feasibility and imaging quality of this technique and discusses its strengths and weaknesses.