FAST SPIN-ECHO TECHNIQUE WITH CIRCULAR SAMPLING

This paper presents a fast spin echo (FSE) imaging method that employs circular sampling of k-space, The technique has been implemented on a 2 Tesla imaging system and validated on both phantoms and living anim als, Experimental studies have shown that circular sampling can produc e artifact-free FSE images without the need of phase correction, Altho ugh not fully explored, preliminary results also show that circular sa mpling may have advantages over the conventional rectilinear FSE in si gnal-to-noise ratio and imaging efficiency, A major disadvantage is th e increased sensitivity to off-resonance effects, The authors expect t hat the FSE technique with circular sampling will find its application s in magnetic resonance microscopy, neuro-functional imaging, and real -time dynamic studies.