Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Real Time: Advances Using Radial FLASH

Purpose: To develop technical advances for real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that allow for improved image quality and high frame rates.

Materials And Methods: The approach is based on a combination of fast low-angle shot (FLASH) MRI sequences with radial data sampling and view sharing of successive acquisitions. Gridding reconstructions provide images free from streaking or motion artifacts and with a flexible trade-off between spatial and temporal resolution. Immediate image reconstruction and online display is accomplished with the use of an unmodified 3 T MRI system. For receive coils with a large number of elements this process is supported by a user-selectable channel compression that is based on a principal component analysis and performed during initial preparation scans.

Results: In preliminary applications to healthy volunteers, real-time radial FLASH MRI visualized continuous movements of the temporomandibular joint during voluntary opening and closing of the mouth at high spatial resolution (0.75 mm in-plane) and monitored cardiac functions at high temporal resolution (20 images per second) during free breathing and without synchronization to the electrocardiogram.

Conclusion: Real-time radial FLASH MRI emerges as a simple and versatile tool for a large range of clinical applications.