Motion-compensated 3D turbo spin-echo for more robust MR intracranial vessel wall imaging

Purpose: (1) To investigate the effect of internal localized movement on 3DMR intracranial vessel wall imaging and (2) to develop a novel motion-compensation approach combining volumetric navigator (vNav) and self-gating (SG) to simultaneously compensate for bulk and localized movements.

Methods: A 3D variable-flip-angle turbo spin-echo (ie, SPACE) sequence was modified to incorporate vNav and SG modules. The SG signals from the center k-space line are acquired at the beginning of each TR to detect localized motion-affected TRs. The vNavs from low-resolution 3D EPI are acquired to identify bulk head motion. Fifteen healthy subjects and 3 stroke patients were recruited in this study. Overall image quality (0-poor to 4-excellent) and vessel wall sharpness were compared among the scenarios with and without bulk and/or localized motion and/or the proposed compensation strategies.

Results: Localized motion reduced wall sharpness, which was significantly mitigated by SG (ie, outer boundary of basilar artery: 0.68 ± 0.27 vs 0.86 ± 0.17; P = .037). When motion occurred, the overall image quality and vessel wall sharpness obtained with vNav-SG SPACE were significantly higher than those obtained with conventional SPACE (ie, basilarartery outer boundary sharpness: 0.73 ± 0.24 vs 0.94 ± 0.24; P = .033), yet comparable to those obtained in motion-free scans (ie, basilarartery outer boundary sharpness: 0.94 ± 0.24 vs 0.96 ± 0.31; P = .815).

Conclusion: Localized movements can induce considerable artifacts in intracranial vessel wall imaging. The vNav-SG approach is capable of compensating for both bulk and localized motions.