Evaluation of motion correction effect and image quality with the periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction (PROPELLER) (BLADE) and parallel imaging acquisition technique in the upper abdomen

Abstract

To evaluate motion correction effect and image quality in the upper abdomen with the periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction (PROPELLER) (BLADE) and parallel imaging acquisition technique. A total of 50 consecutive patients underwent abdominal MR imaging. Fat-saturated T2-weighted turbo spin-echo sequences were obtained by respiratory triggering. The subjects were examined with three different conditions of echo train length (ETL), blade width, and percent k-space coverage in the same scanning time: 19/30/100%, 30/30/100%, and 30/52/175%, which were designated as L/C(1), L/C(2), and L/C(3), respectively. The parallel imaging acquisition technique was used to either reduce ETL from 30 to 19 in L/C(1) or increase k-space coverage from 100% to 175% in L/C(3) compared with L/C(2). Motion and streak artifacts, and overall image quality were evaluated visually by two radiologists, independently. Motion and streak artifacts were mostly reduced in L/C(3) condition. The L/C(3) image also gave the best overall image quality compared with other conditions (P < 0.001). The inter-rater reliability for each evaluation agreed well. In upper abdominal BLADE MRI, it was possible to reduce image artifacts and obtain better image quality by increasing the k-space coverage with parallel imaging in the same scanning time.