ECHO-TIME-ENCODED BURST IMAGING (EBI) - A NOVEL TECHNIQUE FOR SPECTROSCOPIC IMAGING

A new technique for rapid spectroscopic imaging is presented. The prop osed experiment enables a complete mapping of the two-dimensional reci procal space k(x), k(sigma), and thus the acquisition of a 1D spectros copic image in a single scan, The properties of the pulse sequence, ba sed on the use of a burst of low flip angle pulses, are analyzed in th e framework of linear response theory, and it is shown that chemical s hift information may be introduced into the spatially encoded echoes. First experimental results are presented demonstrating that 32 x 32 pr oton spectroscopic images may be acquired within less than 1 min with a conventional imaging system,