Physics

Truncation artefact

o Can be fixed with higher resolution

o Use INTERPOLATION = fake matrix

Resolve diffusion

o Advanced diffusion
o Normal EPI whole k space in 1 TR
o In resolve, it will segment K space (5-6)
o Fill segments one by one
o Takes a bit longer but better SNR & reduce distortion
o Always beautiful in brain
o Can be used anywhere except where organ is moving like liver

Diffusion

o In diffusion = anything in phase direction (phase oversampling) going to increase distortion so

instead we use SAT bands alongside 50 % oversampling
o Try not to increase any steps in PE direction
o In breast & prostate we use SAT bands instead of wrap to prevent blurriness
o 3-4 scan trace= used in brain because its anisotropic diffusion in brain. In brain we have WM
tracts forcing the diffusion into certain directions so it’s better to do 3 or 4 directions & average
them together
o 3D diagonal option= 1 Direction & then it averages where the molecules are going (breast, liver),
even 1 direction is representative of whole tissue unlike brain which has multiple tissue densities
o Liver has isotropic diffusion since its homogenous tissue & water molecules can go anywhere in
uniformity
o Trace weighted image = avg. of 3 or 4 directions
o Diffusion weighted box check = gives directions
o Trigger diffusion will be a better option to give desired ADC values
o We use body from b 50 because we have some perfusion effects from 0-50 & the graph is not
that accurate

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SMS

o Simultaneous multi slice

o An acceleration
o Does 2 or 3 slices at the same time
o Faster scans
o Can use it to drop the TR by half (in block of axials)
o Can use with or without grappa
o Only picking up signal from 2 slices at the same time, collecting all the original signal but 2 at a
time
o It always has grappa but you can always remove it from SMS by clicking 1 & you don’t have to
lose signal
o SMS factor 2 = fill 2 slices at a time
o If SMS factor increased to 3 or high= crosstalk
o It can’t do slices next to each other
o It has to have slices far away from each other, it can’t have slices next to each other
o BEST applied when big stack of slices (not best for sag spine of 15 Slices)
o SMS has to be even no of slices to avoid cross talk
o Half of that even no has to be odd no so the slices will be away from each other
o Works mainly with TSEs, diffusion, functional imaging (EPI)

To increase Signal

o Increase oversampling
o Increase averages

Parallel Imaging

o Acceleration technique to make the scan faster

o Instead of filling 192 (matrix e.g.) lines from the pat in k space, we can skip every 2nd line &
calculate it by filling it with zeroes
o Instead of taking that information from pat, it takes it from coil elements etc. & fill the k space
o K space is symmetrical so whichever point we fill in upper line at a particular area will be a
mirror on the bottom same location
o It is just recording the signal in the k space

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 o Reference lines OPTION= mirror data points in diagonal
o Acceleration factor= if 2, means, every 2nd line in k pace is going to be calculated
o It’s just the algorithm that takes the information and fill it in k space & it’s a wrapped image
o So the way we get it in real image is either grappa or mSense
o Grappa or msense= how it unwraps the data or the algorithm to present as image
o Siemens is optimized for grappa
o GE & Philips use msense

Diffusion Gradients in the sequence

o EPI diffusion, haste diffusion

o You can add diffusion gradient to any sequence
o B value= how big the gradient is
o More sensitivity with higher gradient
o Lower b value, high signal intensity
o Higher b value, low signal intensity

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 Signal intensity
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Random

o Whenever air pocket in phase direction, lot of distortion

o If you are dropping FOV
but not reducing base res., signal drops. Maintain SNR
o Drop the resolution
drop the phase to even 70 %, increase voxel size to get more signal though especially when in
fatsat
o SE
cannot use grappa,
o TSE=
can use acceleration (shows as speedometer on window)
o T1 SE
better T1 contrast but won’t be fast, don’t go lower than 400 or contrast will be affected
o 1.5T=
stay above 400
o 3T
stay above 500/550 TR ideally because shorter relaxation time so T1 contrast will be different
o Phase partial fourier
can reduce time but make image more blurry
o Quiet seq=
different contrast, image quality issues esp FLAIR brain
o Fatsat=

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 flow comp ON, helps with flow in ax plane
o 3D=
good to have extra wrap, reduces artifact from flow
o BW=
TE can be knocked down & TR as well, don’t make big changes otherwise Chemical shift artefact
o RF pulse type
fast; can lower TR
o Fatsat
careful with grappa as signal goes down fast
o Increase turbofactor, TR goes up but decrease the time
o DIXON=
better in larger FOVs, air around tissues, with software updates, gets better
o If you copy
SLICES= no of slices, Dist. factor, ST
Measurement parameters= everything on resolution card
o ISO = where you move the FOV, table will move
o FIXED = implants, biopsy.
o Anything inversion requires higher TR
o Phase res=
describes square or rectangular FOV
Rectangular FOV= reduce time, increase signal, pixel size will change, not the voxel size
Decrease phase res, time goes down, signal up
o F1= help

Phase & base resolution

o In MSK= higher the phase resolution, sharper the images, time will increase though, have at least
75 % on non fatsats
o When increasing phase resolution to 80 or 90 %, go down with base resolution to optimize the
time because when you fat sat you keep fat spin in transverse so if its not collecting its not giving
a signal so there is a big drop in signal since aft is everywhere especially in MSK (bone marrow)
so make the voxel bigger so decrease the phase resolution to 75 or 80 especially on a high
channel coil

Blade sequences

o It gets rid of the motion artefact, motion correction sequences

o It will fill k space like a circle/radial
o Middle get sampled over and over again
o Bad frequency is left out when the Corners will be left out

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 o
o You cannot change normal sequence to BLADE
o You have special blade sequences
o BLADE doesn’t have Averages anymore
o Its replaced by BLADE coverage tab= increase it if images too noisy but tradeoff is time
increment
o Blade Coverage= if you reduce it, saves time but interprets streaks due to overlapping of blade in
k space
o 50 % coverage, space in blade, streaks fill in, gives artefact
o Very high SNR
o Sets of lines are according to the turbo factor, if turbo factor is 15, it will fill 15 lines together &
so on
o Conventional T1 cannot do BLADE because turbo factor is 3 or 4 and too short to fill k space
o Dark fluid has TI pulse & has higher turbo factor & can be used as BLADE

Grappa

o Acceleration factor 2 in PE = fill every 2nd line with zeroes, not collecting real signal from the pat
o Its calculating information by looking at mirror data points in k space
o Mostly lose signal to 70 %
o That is part of parallel imaging
o Unwrapping method of parallel imaging
o Reference lines= what is filling in lines in k space in the beginning so it takes that information
from reference lines to calculate further
o Normally acceleration in PE direction but in 3D, 3rd option ON for it
o Grappa square= artefact due to so much calculated signal & not the real one
o So Capprihina option= shifting zeroes in k space so they are evenly distributed so no pockets of
zeroes anymore. Switch ON for this option by putting 1 in reordering shift 3D. Better to use in
VIBE
o Sag spine, phase H-F= grappa acceptable
o Axials CS= AP; Coil front & back= multiple coils in AP direction (PE), grappa not acceptable
o C spine grappa use only when head coil is used

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 o In general = use only when anterior coil is selected

TOF

o 4 slabs in FOV
o 40 slices per slab
o Segmental k space is gonna be filled
o If turbo factor 10, it will 10 lines in k space segment
o SAT band has to go 1st to get rid of the venous signal
o Inflow technique
o It’s going to (SAT) saturate all the venous signal before arterial comes in
o Time taking since we SAT saturate everything (venous flow, tissue etc.) then we collect signal
(from arteries)
o If you want to increase coverage, increase slabs rather than slices (after 44 each) otherwise will
start getting lines because you’re trying to fill too many lines
o To speed it up= click ‘sequence’ Tab, select ‘segment’ tab, put 2 m which will increase some TR,
fills more k space per segment
o Recommendation = max 3 segmentations because it will then fill too much of segment that it
will start getting a venous signal as well, we are taking too long to fill in, venous will come back

To optimize seq after applying grappa

o Increase oversampling
o Use rectangular FOV
o Get to at least 80 %
o Grappa acceleration factor 2 is every 2nd line is not collecting from the true signal,
instead filling with zeroes
o TSE (MSKs)= grappa
o GRE= grappa or phase partial fourier, lose resolution
o SPACE= record motion, decrease SNR on TSE with phase partial fourier

Starvibe

o 3D Blade (free breathing)

o Set of stars
o Used as PRE

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GRASP

o Whole dynamic seq is replaced with it

o CS + 3D + radial filling
o Very susceptible to artefact from arms (arms must be tucked in properly)
o All phases in one, pre & post
o You inject contrast when indicated & sit back
o ARTERIAL phase = 3 phases of arterial (early, mid & delayed)
o Temporal resolution will be quicker than other phases since it will fit 3 arterial phases
o More phase, have less temporal res but that affects spatial res as well
o 3 kind of series with GRASP
o Complete = all diff time points, but very high no of data so we need to delete it later on, every
phase will be labelled where we gave the time that its gonna be art or ven etc.
o Reduced = pre, arterial, venous & delayed ONLY. Send this to PACS
o Complete & reduced = both
o Take time reconstruct
o Preview will give a quick review that contrast went in
o Can be used in neck & prostate
o SAT bands will be on arms to prevent the artefacts as much as possible
o Liver Gating = to take data only on expiration (recommended for liver imaging) use it if pat ahs
nice even shallow breathing, wont help in erratic breathing (vent pats)
o The seq will see the signal change within the liver when contrast went in, it will then give art
ven, delays
o System will do a bolus detection even though we can’t see it but its running in the background
o We can change & adapt the phase timings if we want
o Less phases, more data
o More phases, less each phase will be sampled, need more CS factor to fill the missing data, time
will increase & so the blur
o More phases, better chance of catching contrast but tradeoff is sharpness

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