MULTIPLE BREATH-HOLD AVERAGING (MBA) METHOD FOR INCREASED SNR IN ABDOMINAL MRI

Breath-holding during MR imaging eliminates respiratory motion artifac ts but places a major time constraint on data acquisition, This constr aint limits image signal-to-noise ratio and hence spatial resolution. A new method, multiple breath-hold averaging, is presented that overco mes these time limitations. Several images are acquired in sequential breath-hold periods, separated by periods of normal breathing, and ave raged. This averaged image shows the expected increase in SNR with sur prisingly little blurring due to misregistration. SNR improvements can be traded for increased spatial resolution. The MBA methodology can a lso be applied to 3D data acquisitions, dynamic contrast acquisitions, and image subtractions.