Simultaneous Contrast-Free 3D Aortic Lumen and Vessel Wall Imaging at 0.55T at systole and diastole

Motivation: Bright-blood and black-blood imaging are relevant for assessing aortic pathologies. Research on aortic imaging at 0.55T which could potentially make MRI more accessible and affordable is scarce. Goal(s): To evaluate the feasibility of a novel non-contrast enhanced simultaneous bright- and black-blood aorta imaging at 0.55T at systole and diastole. Approach: Five healthy volunteers were scanned at 0.55T with the proposed accelerated and non-rigid motion-compensated sequence (iT2prep-BOOST). Adiabatic, MLEV4 and MLEV8 T2-preparation pulses were compared. Results: Good image quality was obtained for simultaneous acquisition of 3D bright- and black-blood aorta imaging at 0.55T at systole and diastole with the proposed iT2prep-BOOST and MLEV8 T2-preparation. Impact: The proposed approach enables 3D simultaneous bright- and black-blood aorta imaging at 0.55T during a fast free-breathing scan and thus shows promise for the detection of different aortic diseases, potentially making aortic MRI more accessible and affordable.