Variable-Flip Angle 3D-Turbo Spin Echo Imaging Utilizing Spiral Acquisitions

Samuel Fielden¹, Craig Meyer^1,2, John P. Mugler, III^1,2

Shaping the signal evolution by varying the refocusing RF-pulse amplitudes in turbo-spin-echo (TSE)-type sequences has proven useful for T2-weighted single-slab 3D-TSE imaging in a variety of applications. However, 3D T2-weighted imaging remains time consuming when the number of 3D phase encodes is large. Spiral acquisition gradients cover k-space more efficiently than the traditional, Cartesian approach, and thus provide an attractive method by which shortened scan times can be achieved, in addition to their low sensitivity to flow and motion. Here, we implement and perform a preliminary evaluation of variable-flip-angle 3D-TSE imaging using spiral k-space sampling.