Improved visualization of the human lung in H-1 MRI using multiple inversion recovery for simultaneous suppression of signal contributions from fat and muscle

H-1 magnetic resonance imaging of the lung is hampered by the low contrast between lung parenchyma, and muscle and fat in the thorax. We show that it is possible to improve contrast greatly and thereby enhance the visibility of the lung, by suppression of signal of surrounding muscle and fat based o n differences in T-1 relaxation times using a double inversion recovery pre paration pulses (Tl-1 800 msec, and Tl-2 150 msec) and a half-fourier acqui sition single-shot turbo spin-echo (HASTE) sequence, The measured T-1 value s for the right and left lungs at 1.5 T were 1.37 +/- 0.18 and 1.41 +/- 0.2 1 sec, respectively, Magn Reson Med 41:866-870, 1999. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.