Vendor-Independent Pulseq Lung-Optimized Spoiled Gradient Echo Sequence for Phase-resolved functional Lung (PREFUL) MRI

Motivation: Free breathing pulmonary proton MRI gained interest during the last years. The next important step for method validation is the conduction of multicenter studies. Goal(s): As exact MRI sequence implementation depends on the vendor, a pulse sequence developed with a framework with multi-vendor support as Pulseq, sequence-related variability can be mitigated. Approach: A spoiled gradient echo sequence (SPGRE) was optimized for Phase-Resolved functional lung (PREFUL) MRI. The settings were adapted to be in alignment with a Siemens FLASH sequence used in previous studies. Results: All PREFUL parameters showed no significant differences between Siemens FLASH and Pulseq SPGRE implementation in 9 healthy volunteers. Impact: The demonstrated sequence can be easily shared between centers to homogenize the data acquisition for functional lung imaging with PREFUL and similar methods. The reduction of sequence-related variability, may lead to substantial improvement of reproducibility and comparability between centers.