Abstract #1338

Flip-angle optimization for the diffusion-weighted SPLICE sequence for applications in brain imaging

Sofie Rahbek¹, Tim Schakel², Faisal Mahmood^3,4, Kristoffer H. Madsen^5,6, Marielle E.P. Philippens², and Lars G. Hanson^1,5

¹Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark, ²Department of Radiotherapy, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands, ³Laboratory of Radiation Physics, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark, ⁴Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark, ⁵Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark, ⁶Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

The RARE-based diffusion-weighted MRI sequence, SPLICE, provides diffusion-weighted images free of geometric distortions. However, the image quality in terms of spatial resolution and SNR needs to be improved. We suggest a framework based on optimization of the flip-angles in the refocusing pulse train to improve the SNR for a chosen spatial point-spread-function. Simulations based on EPG calculations indicate superiority of the optimized flip-angle scheme and experimental recordings on a 1.5 T scanner demonstrate the improvements in a practical setting.

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