Simultaneous Multiple Resonance Frequency imaging (SMURF): Fat-water imaging using multi-band principles

Abstract

Purpose: To develop a fat-water imaging method that allows reliable separation of the two tissues, uses established robust reconstruction methods, and requires only one single-echo acquisition. Theory and Methods: The proposed method uses spectrally selective dual-band excitation in combination with CAIPIRINHA to generate separate images of fat and water simultaneously. Spatially selective excitation without cross-contamination is made possible by the use of spatial-spectral pulses. Fat and water images can either be visualized separately, or the fat images can be corrected for chemical shift displacement and, in gradient echo imaging, for chemical shift-related phase discrepancy, and recombined with water images, generating fat-water images free of chemical shift effects. Gradient echo and turbo spin echo sequences were developed based on this Simultaneous Multiple Resonance Frequency imaging (SMURF) approach and their performance was assessed at 3Tesla in imaging of the knee, breasts, and abdomen. Results: The proposed method generated well-separated fat and water images with minimal unaliasing artefacts or cross-excitation, evidenced by the near absence of water signal attributed to the fat image and vice versa. The separation achieved was similar to or better than that using separate acquisitions with water- and fat-saturation or Dixon methods. The recombined fat-water images provided similar image contrast to conventional images, but the chemical shift effects were eliminated. Conclusion: Simultaneous Multiple Resonance Frequency imaging is a robust fat-water imaging technique that offers a solution to imaging of body regions with significant amounts of fat.