IMAGING OF THE HUMAN CARDIOVASCULAR-SYSTEM USING THE RAPID ECHO FLOW-REPHASED SPIN-ECHO TECHNIQUE

Using a flow-rephased spin-echo technique with a short echo time of TE = 9.7 msec, ''white blood'' multislice and single slice first echo im ages of the human heart were acquired using standard 1.5 T whole-body imagers. The technique almost completely eliminates phase shifts for f low with constant velocity and constant acceleration, so the investiga tions with healthy volunteers show images which are almost free of the artifacts often found in ECG-gated standard spin-echo imaging of the heart. T1-weighted images with good contrast between tissue and blood are achieved at any time during the whole heart cycle. The results obt ained indicate that the technique might be helpful for imaging small v essels, vessels which contain slowly flowing blood, and vessels locate d in regions with static field inhomogeneities, for example, lung vess els.