Reducing view-sharing using compressed sensing in time-resolved contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography

PurposeTo study temporal and spatial blurring artifacts from k-space view-sharing in time-resolved MR angiography (MRA) and to propose a technique for reducing these artifacts. MethodsWe acquired k-space data sets using a three-dimensional time-resolved MRA view-sharing sequence and retrospectively reformatted them into two reconstruction frameworks: full view-sharing via time-resolved imaging with stochastic trajectories (TWIST) and minimal k-space view-sharing and compressed sensing (CS-TWIST). The two imaging series differed in temporal footprint but not in temporal frame rate. The artifacts from view-sharing were compared qualitatively and quantitatively in nine patients in addition to a phantom experiment. ResultsCS-TWIST was able to reduce the imaging temporal footprint by two- to three-fold compared with TWIST, and the overall subjective image quality of CS-TWIST was higher than that for TWIST (P<0.05). View sharing caused a delay in the visualization of small blood vessels, and the mean transit time of the carotid artery calculated based on TWIST reconstruction was 0.6 s longer than that for CS-TWIST (P<0.01). In thoracic MRA, the shorter temporal footprint decreased the sensitivity to physiological motion blurring, and vessel sharpness was improved by 8.8%6.0% using CS-TWIST (P<0.05). ConclusionIn time-resolved MRA, the longer temporal footprint due to view-sharing causes spatial and temporal artifacts. CS-TWIST is a promising method for reducing these artifacts. Magn Reson Med 74:474-481, 2015. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.