MR Physics for Clinicians – Ultrafast Imaging

Goal This lecture aims to give an overview of ultrafast image techniques such as echo-planar imaging (EPI) and spiral imaging. While these techniques offer significant speed improvement, they are often accompanied by practical issues that degrade the quality of the images, thereby compromising their benefits. Therefore, it is important to take proper control of the tradeoff between imaging speed and the sensitivity to artifacts. The goal of this lecture is to demystify the origin of these artifacts and to describe solutions that allow ultrafast imaging to be practiced in a routine and robust manner.