hide
Free keywords:
-
Abstract:
Purpose:
To use the acquisition of the k‐space center signal (DC signal) implemented into a Cartesian three‐dimensional (3D) FLASH sequence for retrospective respiratory self‐gating and, thus, for the examination of the whole human lung in high spatial resolution during free breathing.
Materials and Methods:
Volunteer as well as patient measurements were performed under free breathing conditions. The DC signal is acquired after the actual image data acquisition within each excitation of a 3D FLASH sequence. The DC signal is then used to track respiratory motion for retrospective respiratory gating.
Results:
It is shown that the acquisition of the DC signal after the imaging module can be used in a 3D FLASH sequence to extract respiratory motion information for retrospective respiratory self‐gating and allows for shorter echo times (TE) and therefore increased lung parenchyma SNR.
Conclusion:
The acquisition of the DC signal after image signal acquisition allows successful retrospective gating, enabling the reconstruction of high resolution images of the whole human lung under free breathing conditions.
