ECG-Gated Fast Spin Echo MRA with Interleaved Acquisition of Systolic and Diastolic Data for Improved Robustness to Motion

Iliyana Atanasova¹, ², Pippa Storey², Daniel Kim³, Ruth Lim², Vivian Lee³

In ECG-gated spin-echo based non-contrast MRA (FSE-MRA) bright blood angiograms are obtained by subtracting sequentially acquired systolic and diastolic images. This technique can provide excellent depiction of the arteries, but suffers from poor tolerance to patient motion. We hypothesize that interleaving the acquisition of systolic and diastolic partitions may improve robustness to motion. Our results demonstrate that it is feasible to implement FSE-MRA with systolic-diastolic interleaving. Results in one volunteer, instructed to perform controlled movements, suggest that the interleaved acquisition may be more robust to motion compared to a sequential scan.