Navigator motion correction of diffusion weighted 3D SSFP imaging

Diffusion weighted (DW) 3D steady state MR (SSFP) head imaging technique us ing navigator echo's motion correction is presented. This new scheme enable s acquisition of DW images even at regions where severe susceptibility is p resent. Another advantage is the moderate gradient performance requirements . DW imaging methods are sensitive to any kind of motion, thus, most of the se methods might suffer from bulk motion artifacts. The common solution to avoid motion artifacts in a 2D DW SSFP acquisition is multi averaging. To a void the time consuming multi averaging, the new scheme, described here, ut ilizes navigator echo's motion correction to remove respiratory bulk motion artifacts. At some brain regions, where the motion is governed by blood or CSF pulsation, the navigator motion correction fails. At these regions the correction is an interpolation of corrections from regions where the motio n is particularly of the respiratory type. The combination of a 3D sequence with a navigator echo motion correction, enables acquisition of 10 DW slic es within a time of 0:50-2:30 min. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All right s reserved.