A 3D Golden-Angle Radial Sequence for in vivo Hadamard-encoded 19F MRI in a Porcine Model

Motivation: Perfluorooctyl bromide (PFOB) can be used to visualize the inflammatory reaction after myocardial infarction with 19F MRI, but effective methods for its imaging in large animals in vivo are still missing. Goal(s): To develop a Hadamard-encoded sequence that removes the chemical shift artifacts of PFOB and increases the 19F SNR for application in large animal experiments. Approach: A 3D center-out radial FLASH-sequence was developed and compared to a Cartesian FLASH-sequence in PFOB-phantoms. The radial sequence was tested in a pig after PFOB injection. Results: Lowering TE increased the SNR by a factor of 2.4, which allowed to reconstruct 19F images of the animal. Impact: Hadamard-encoded radial 19F MRI optimally uses the available multi-spectral information of PFOB which makes it the ideal candidate for monocyte tracking in large animals.