A fully flow‐compensated multiecho susceptibility‐weighted imaging sequence: The effects of acceleration and background field on flow compensation

PURPOSE: To present a fully flow-compensated multiecho gradient echo sequence that can be used for MR angiography (MRA), susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI), and quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and to study the effects of flow acceleration and background field gradients on flow compensation. METHODS: The quality of flow compensation was evaluated using the data from eight volunteers. The effects of flow acceleration were studied by changing the polarities of the readout gradients in two consecutive scans. The background field was used to estimate the phase errors of flow compensation in the presence of field inhomogeneities. SWI and QSM data were generated with confounding arterial phase removed. T2 * maps were obtained from the multiecho data to estimate T2 * of arterial blood. RESULTS: Reasonable flow compensation was achieved. Nevertheless, background field gradients and acceleration-induced phase errors were found to be as large as π/2 and π/3, respectively, both in agreement with theory. T2 * was measured as 82 ± 4 ms and 74 ± 9 ms for arteries inside and outside the brain, respectively, at 3T. CONCLUSION: High-quality MRA, SWI, and QSM data can be obtained simultaneously. Masking out the arteries to remove the phase due to flow acceleration and background field gradients improves the quality of both SWI and QSM data. Magn Reson Med 76:478-489, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.