Velocity Unwrap for High Resolution Slice-Selective Fourier Velocity Encoding Using Spiral SENSE

Jennifer Anne Steeden¹, Alexander Jones¹, David Atkinson², Andrew M. Taylor¹, Vivek Muthurangu¹

Quantification of peak velocity is important in the assessment of stenotic flow jets. It is possible to measure peak velocity accurately using Fourier Velocity Encoding (FVE). In this study, a fast, high-resolution slice-selective FVE sequence was developed with the use of spiral trajectories, parallel-imaging, partial-Fourier in the velocity-dimension and a novel velocity-unwrap technique. The resulting sequence was acquired within a short breath-hold. Peak velocities were compared from Doppler ultrasound (US), phase-contrast MR (PCMR) and FVE. Experiments carried out in-vitro and in-vivo showed that PCMR tended to underestimate peak velocity compared to Doppler US, whereas FVE agreed well with Doppler US.