A CHEMICAL-SHIFT SELECTIVE INVERSION RECOVERY SEQUENCE FOR FAT-SUPPRESSED MRI - THEORY AND EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION

Fat-suppression techniques are used extensively in routine proton nucl ear magnetic resonance imaging to produce images free from chemical sh ift artifacts and dynamic range problems. A hybrid fat-suppression seq uence is studied which combines the principle of short time inversion recovery with chemical shift selective imaging. The aim of this study is to provide a theoretical understanding of the role of the sequence parameters, as well as to compare this hybrid sequence with its most c losely related conventional fat-suppression techniques, namely selecti ve presaturation and short time inversion recovery (STIR) imaging. The hybrid technique is shown to be robust in normal use, and more tolera nt than the conventional methods to mis-settings of parameters such as inversion time, as well as tip angle and frequency bandwidth of the f at selective pulse.