3D-Yarnball Acquisition and Reconstruction Advancement Yields High Resolution T1-Weighted Whole Brain Images in Just Over 1 Minute

Motivation: This study is motivated by the creation of high-resolution T1-weighting whole brain images in considerably less time (1 minute) than currently required for standard MP-RAGE (~4 minutes). Goal(s): The sampling efficient 3D-Yarnball trajectory offers a potential imaging solution, but trajectory/sequence design and reconstruction aspects remain to be explored. Approach: Variably under-sampled Yarnball trajectories with 2-10 ms duration were compared in healthy brain, along with different methods of steady-state sequence excitation. Iterative, off-resonance correcting, wavelet-regularized reconstruction was applied to Yarnball for the first time. Results: Yarnball sequence and reconstruction consideration enabled high-quality 0.77 mm isotropic whole brain images in 1 minute Impact: The image acquisition, sequence, and reconstruction investigation of this work enabled robust, high-quality 0.77 mm isotropic T1-weighted whole brain images in just over 1 minute. The goal of this work is to facilitate considerably shorter MRI protocols.