MULTISLICE, BREATHHOLD IMAGING OF THE LUNG WITH SUBMILLISECOND ECHO TIMES

The signal from the lungs is heavily attenuated by T-2 and T-2 decay in standard MR images of the thorax. The authors utilized the capabili ties of a prototype fast gradient system to develop a multi-slice grad ient echo sequence that can obtain images with an echo time of 0.7 ms. Images acquired in a single breath-hold are free from respiratory mot ion artifacts and clearly display signal from lung parenchyma. The use of fast gradients makes short echo times possible without the use of nonstandard RF pulses and spatial encoding techniques and their associ ated limitations.