Towards Real-Time MR Imaging of the Soft Palate for Clinical Evaluation of Velopharyngeal Closure

Andrew David Scott¹, Redha Boubertakh¹, Malcolm Birch¹, Marc Eric Miquel¹

Previous real-time MR studies of soft palate motion have had limited frame-rates or used complex spiral techniques. We implement and compare high frame-rate (9-20fps) 1.5T bSSFP and 3.0T SSFP sequences. Comparisons were made in healthy subjects and images were synchronised with simultaneously acquired audio recordings. SNR was higher in 3.0T acquisitions at rest, but lower during speech compared to 1.5T. 3.0T images were reliably of diagnostic quality. 1.5T images were mostly of the highest quality but frequently undiagnostic. Comparison between sequences suggested that for the assessment of soft-palate motion, high frame-rates (~20fps) are desirable at the expense of some spatial-resolution.