6/23/2009

The Anatomy of Basic MR Pulse Sequences

Magnetization Preparation Section
• Chemical Shift Selective Saturation & Excitation
• Spatial Selective Saturation
• Magnetization Transfer (MT)
Inversion Recovery (IR) • Inversion Recovery (IR)

Techniques and Applications Data Acquisition Section

• Slice/Slab Selective Excitation
• Phase Encoding(s)
• Echo Generation Increment
• Spin Echo (SE), Fast/Turbo SE (TSE), Single-shot FSE (HASTE) Phase
Chen Lin, PhD • Gradient Recalled Echo (GRE), Single-shot GRE (EPI) Encoding
• Diffusion Weighting (DWI/DTI) and Gradient Moment Nulling (GMN)
Indiana University School of Medicine • Frequency Encoding
• Filling of K-space
& Clarian Health Partners
Magnetization Recovery Section
• End of Sequence Spoiling
• Driven Equilibrium
Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

Magnetization Preparation by IR Variations of IR Technique

RF
180° 90° 180° 180° 180° 180° 180° 180° Inversion Options: Acquisition Options:
GS • Non-selective
GP • Slice-selective • Unlimited (TSE and TFL
GR • Spectral selective are common)
ADC
• 2D and 3D
M0 Tissue magnetization • Adiabatic
• Flow-induced Adiabatic • View ordering and
correction of k-space
modulation can be
• Combination of multiple important.
Inversion Recovery Acquisition inversions
Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

Applications of IR STIR, FLAIR, TI and TINull

• Selectively suppress tissue / background signal STIR: Short Tau Inversion Recovery, TRIM
based on T1 differences
– STIR FLAIR: FLuid Attenuated Inversion Recovery, “Dark Fluid”
– FLAIR
– SPAIR Signal
• Improve T1 contrast (Phase Sensitive Recon) Fat signal
– MP-RAGE, IR-SPGR, IR-TFE
– T1 FLAIR
– T1 IR
Fluid signal Time
• T1 Measurement / T1 Mapping
• Tagging / Labeling
– Non-CE perfusion with Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL)
Inversion TInull(Fat) TInull (Water)
RF Pulse
Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

1
 6/23/2009

T1 of Various Tissue Types Dependence on Inversion Flip Angle and TR

Tissue T1 @ 1.5T T1 @ 3.0T

0.15
(msec) (msec) 180
150

Relative |Mz(t)|
120
CSF 4400 4500 0.1

WM 780 850
0.05
GM 920 1330
Blood 1200 1500 0
200 250 300
Muscle 870 1160 T1 (ms)

Fat 220 260 As the inversion flip angle or TR decreases:

• TINull also decreases.
TInull = 0.69 x T1
• Suppression becomes less selective.
Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

Interleave of Inversion & Acquisition More about STIR

IR1 IR2 IR3 IR4 IR5 • In-sensitive to B0 • Lower SNR
inhomogeneity – improved with shorter
ACQ1 ACQ2 ACQ3 ACQ4 ACQ5
STIR – More reliable than TE (17-48 msec )
TI FATSAT for large FOV and • Bad idea with Gd
IR1 IR2 IR3 IR4 IR5 off-center
– shorter post-contrast
– works at lower field tumor T1
ACQ1 ACQ2 ACQ3 ACQ4 ACQ5 strengths
FLAIR • Red marrow signal can
TI
• High visibility for fluid obscure subtle edema
– long T1 bright on STIR – use TE=45-48+ to
IR1 IR2 IR3 IR4 IR5 – long T2 bright on STIR, suppress marrow
ACQ4 ACQ5 ACQ1 ACQ2 ACQ3
given long enough TE
T1IR
TI Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

STIR versus FATSAT in the Presence of

81 year old female, right hip prosthesis
Metal “Hardware”

Cor CT Cor FSE T2 with Cor STIR

FATSAT
STIR T1 TSE with FATSAT
Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

2
 6/23/2009

Water Saturation plus STIR for

Modified STIR for MSK
Imaging Silicone Implant

Kijowski, R. et al. Am. J. Roentgenol.

Fat Silicone Implant
Water 220Hz 320Hz

2005;185:371-378
STIR Modified STIR Freq

• TE=50-100; TI=110-120 @ 1.5T

• Improved SNR and excellent fluid sensitivity in soft tissues
Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

FLAIR (Dark Fluid) for Brain T1 FLAIR (Modified FLAIR)

Courtesy of Drs. Gaa, Bink

2D FLAIR
3D High Res T1 FLAIR with 3D SPACE @ 3.0T
SPACE • Used short TR and TI than conventional FLAIR
FLAIR • Suppress CSF and provides T1 contrast
Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

SPAIR – SPectrally Adiabatic Inversion Recovery Conventional vs Adiabatic Inversion

Z Z Z Z Z
Adiabatic Water signal
Spectral M
M
Selective IR
M
Fat signal
Y Y Y Y Y
B1 B1 B1 B1 B1
M M
X X X X X
Z Z Z Z Z
Null

• SPAIR uses an adiabatic frequency selective inversion M

M
pulse. B1 M
B1
• Insensitivity to B1 inhomogeneity (better for 3.0T) Y Y Y Y Y
B1 B1 M
• Takes longer time and generates higher SAR than B1 M
conventional ChemSat X X X X X
Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

3
 6/23/2009

B1 Sensitivity C-Spine with SPAIR

Z Z Z Z Z

M
M
M M M
Y Y Y Y Y
B1 B1 B1 B1 B1
X X X X X
Z Z Z Z Z

M
M
B1 M
B1
Y Y Y Y Y
B1 B1 M
B1 M
X X X X X
TSE w. SPAIR
Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

Breast DCE with SPAIR Breast T2 with SPAIR at 3.0T

VIBE with SPAIR VIBE with FATSAT

T2 SPC w. FatSat T2 SPC w. SPAIR
Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

Abdominal Applications Double IR (DIR), “Dark Blood”

Data acquisition
1 segment = 7 lines

Non- Myocardium signal

Slice
selective
Selective IR
IR

Blood signal

DW SS-EPI @ b=50 w. SPAIR HASTE w. SPAIR

Null
Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

4
 6/23/2009

Dark Blood for Cardiac Applications Cardiac Morphology with DIR

W/O DB With DB W/O DB With DB

T1 with Dark Blood T2 with Dark Blood

Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

Inversion-Recovery for ON-resonant

DIR for Brain
water suppression (IRON)

Korosoglou G, et al. JMRI 2008 May;27(5):1175

Dark Fluid Dark Fluid & Dark WM DIR to suppress fat & on- MR-Lymphography using
resonance 1H IRON & SPIO
Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

Triple IR (TIR) or DB STIR DIR versus TIR

Data acquisition
1 segment = 7 lines

Myocardium
Non-
Slice
selective
Selective Fat
IR Freq
IR
Selective
IR Blood

Null
Null
Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

5
 6/23/2009

Adjust TI according to Heart Rate or TR

DIR Optimization for Cardiac
(Lock Contrast)
TI

TI

Heart Rate RR TR TI
BPM msec msec msec
Faster HR
100 600 1200 420
TR too short : TR too long : → Shorter RR
TR optimized → Less Recovery 80 750 1500 550
systolic motion blood signal
reduces begins → Shorter TI 60 1000 2000 630
myocardial signal Chen Lin PhD 6/23 to recover Chen Lin PhD 6/23

T1 In-sensitive DB with Quad IR Small FOV with Quad IR

QIR DIR

Pre Yarnykh VL, Yuan C. 2006 May;55(5):1083

Post

Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

Yarnykh VL, Yuan C. MRM 2002 Nov;48(5):899

Background Suppression with IR in Renal MRA

Improve Tissue Contrast with IR

Inversion Inflow Imaging MP-RAGE T1 @ 3T; 0.9x0.9x0.9 mm3; TA: 4:31

Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23
J. Carr. Northwestern University

6
 6/23/2009

MP-RAGE, IR-SPGR, IR-TFE MP-RAGE versus MP-EFGRE at 3.0T

0.7
|Mz(W M)|
0.6
|Mz(GM)|

0.5 Contrast

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0

50

00

50

00

50

00

50

00

50

00
0

15

30

45

60

75

90

10

12

13

15

16

18

19

21

22

24
-0.1

-0.2

MP-RAGE Sequential
IR-SPGR Centric
MP-EFGRE Recessed EC

IR IR MP-RAGE 9:14 MP-EFGRE 6:30

TI Central Views TD
Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

T1-weighted FLuid-Attenuated
T1-weighted Imaging for Brain @ 3.0T
Inversion Recovery (T1FLAIR)

2D SE 60 2D T1 FLAIR 2D FLASH 3D FLASH 3D MPRAGE

• Axial T1 FLAIR @ 3T with
TR/TE/TI/ETL = 2100/9.5/900/3

• Improves T1 contrast at 3.0T

• High SAR limits number of slices IQ=4 IQ=6 IQ=4 IQ=5 IQ=5
and coverage
IQ: The median perceived overall image quality

Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

Lin C et al ISMRM2008 Poster2003

Myocardial Viability (Delay Enhancement) Suppress Normal Myocardium with IR

• Increased distribution R R R

volume of contrast within Necrotic

necrotic myocardium. ECG
• Necrotic tissue has faster T1
recovery than normal tissue Trigger
following an IR pulse. Non-selective Necrotic Non-selective
• Adjusting the TI to null 180o inversion
   n
180o inversion

normal myocardium gives Normal    ...

data
 Normal ...

maximum image contrast

between necrotic and TI
normal myocardium tissues. 200 - 300 ms

Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

7
 6/23/2009

IR FLASH/TruFISP/EPI for Delayed Enhancement T1 Scout

Signal
Contrast Reversal Blood

Myocardium

Time

Inversion

Suppress the signal from normal myocardium

Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

Finn, J. P. et al. Radiology 2006;241:338-354

IR with Phase Sensitive (PS) Recon True IR (Real IR) for Brain

Signal
Blood

Myocardium

Time

Inversion

Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

PS T1IR Phase Sensitive Reconstruction

• An image reconstruction option, no additional
scan time
• Improve contrast
• May produce artifact.

Ask for both magnitude recon and PS recon

PS T1IR T1SE T2 FLAIR
images.

Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

Hou et al. AJNR 2005 26 (6): 1432

8
 6/23/2009

Look-Locker IR for T1 mapping Summary

• Inversion Recovery (IR) is a useful technique to
improve tissue contrast based on their T1
differences.
• The improvement typically come with a cost
of lower SNR and longer time.
• Multiple IRs targeting different species can be
combined in a single acquisition.

Chen Lin PhD 6/23 Chen Lin PhD 6/23

Kimelman T et al. Invest Radiol. 2006 Feb;41(2):198

Thank you!

www.indiana.edu/~mri

Chen Lin PhD 6/23