Shortening MR image acquisition time for volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination with a recently developed parallel imaging reconstruction technique: clinical feasibility

A recently developed parallel magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technique, parallel imaging with an augmented radius in k space, was used to accelerate the volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE) performed in 20 patients referred for clinical liver imaging. Nonaccelerated MR images were also acquired in these patients. A five-point scale was used to score the quality of the images. The acceleration resulted in reduced image quality: The nonaccelerated images had a significantly higher (P <.05) mean score--3.8 +/- 0.3 (SD), indicating good quality--than the accelerated images--3.0 +/- 0.3, indicating acceptable quality. However, for three patients who could not hold their breath for the duration necessary for nonaccelerated imaging, less severe breathing artifacts on the accelerated images resulted in improved quality compared with the quality of the nonaccelerated images. Parallel MR imaging-accelerated VIBE may be beneficial for patients who have difficulty sustaining a breath hold for the duration necessary to perform nonaccelerated imaging.