This work develops an NCE-MRA technique based on the
flow-sensitised dephasing (FSD) method but using a fast-spin echo (FSE) readout
to avoid off-resonance artifacts and allow a larger field of view. The
flow-preparation module may be velocity-sensitised, acceleration-sensitised or mixed
velocity-and-acceleration-sensitised. The
FSE readout allows these approaches to be combined with additional flow
sensitisation by ‘adaptive refocus’ which reduces the refocusing flip angle in
systole. These approaches performed well in healthy volunteers, in particular
the velocity-sensitisation and mixed-sensitisation
approaches. Adding adaptive refocus increased venous contamination and thus
reduced the arterial image quality. Future work will evaluate these methods in
patients.
