Low-rank inversion reconstruction for through-plane accelerated radial MR fingerprinting applied to relaxometry at 0.35 T.

Abstract

PurposeTo reduce scan time, methods to accelerate phase‐encoded/non‐Cartesian MR fingerprinting (MRF) acquisitions for variable density spiral acquisitions have recently been developed. These methods are not applicable to MRF acquisitions, wherein a single k‐space spoke is acquired per frame. Therefore, we propose a low‐rank inversion method to resolve MRF contrast dynamics from through‐plane accelerated Cartesian/radial measurements applied to quantitative relaxation‐time mapping on a 0.35T system.MethodsAn algorithm was implemented to reconstruct through‐plane aliased low‐rank images describing the contrast dynamics occurring because of the transient‐state MRF acquisition. T1 and T2 times from accelerated acquisitions were compared with those from unaccelerated linear reconstructions in a standardized system phantom and within in vivo brain and prostate experiments on a hybrid 0.35T MRI/linear accelerator.ResultsNo significant differences between T1 and T2 times for the accelerated reconstructions were observed compared to fully sampled acquisitions (p = 0.41 and p = 0.36, respectively). The mean absolute errors in T1 and T2 were 5.6% and 2.9%, respectively, between the full and accelerated acquisitions. The SDs in T1 and T2 decreased with the advanced accelerated reconstruction compared with the unaccelerated reconstruction (p = 0.02 and p = 0.03, respectively). The quality of the T1 and T2 maps generated with the proposed approach are comparable to those obtained using the unaccelerated data sets.ConclusionsThrough‐plane accelerated MRF with radial k‐space coverage was demonstrated at a low field strength of 0.35 T. This method enabled 3D T1 and T2 mapping at 0.35 T with a 3‐min scan.