Experimental study on HASTE sequences: impacts of parameters on liver imaging

This study investigates the impacts of effective TE (TEeff), echo spacing a nd echo train lengths (ETLs) on the imaging quality of HASTE sequences for liver imaging through a slit and a liver phantom. The HASTE sequence with a short echo spacing demonstrated higher CNR for a phantom simulating hepato cellular carcinoma (HCC) than that with long echo spacing. With a long echo spacing, the HASTE sequence showed higher spatial resolution for hemangiom as and metastasis. The improvement of spatial resolution along with the inc rease in ETLs (imaging matrix) was more prominent for hemangioma than for H CC. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.