Centric phase‐encoding order in three‐dimensional MP‐RAGE sequences: Application to abdominal imaging

Three‐dimensional (3D) magnetization‐prepared rapid gradient‐echo imaging has been proposed as a method for improving signal‐to‐noise ratio (S/N) and contrast‐to‐noise ratio (C/N) in rapid abdominal imaging. Originally, a standard sequential phase‐encoding order was proposed. In the present study, two approaches to a 3D centric phase‐encoding order are presented: (a) application of the two‐dimensional (2D) centric order to one of the 3D encoding directions, and (b) an interleaved square spiral order, which is the segmented 3D analog of the 2D centric order. With use of simulation, phantom, and volunteer results, the proposed 3D centric methods are compared in terms of S/N, C/N, and artifacts to the 3D sequential method and 2D magnetization‐prepared methods. The second centric approach was found to be superior to the first; however, in general, the 3D technique was found to be inferior to the 2D technique for abdominal imaging because of motion artifact in the 3D image set caused by misregistration among the multiple breath holds required.