FAST RARE MR-IMAGING WITH VARIABLE FLIP ANGLE EXCITATION

A method was developed for performing T1-weighted magnetic resonance i maging with the rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement (RARE) s equence by altering the excitation flip angle, This method was called variable flip angle turbo spin-echo (VF-TSF) imaging, When the effecti ve echo time corresponds to the first echo, the resolution worsens as the echo train length becomes longer, For this reason, the echo train length was set at three, the repetition time (TR) was shortened (100-2 00 msec) to decrease imaging time, and the initial flip angle was adju sted (120 degrees-140 degrees) to improve image quality, Another advan tage of this method is that the initial flip angle can be reduced to b elow 90 degrees when a longer TR is needed, Measured signal intensitie s for VF-TSE imaging matched theoretic predictions, VF-TSE imaging yie lded high contrast-to-noise and signal-to-noise ratios without sacrifi cing resolution, The VF-TSE technique was useful for breath-hold, thre e-dimensional, and cardiac synchronization imaging.