Reducing the Scan Time of Time-Resolved, 3D Phase Contrast Imaging with 2D Autocalibrated Parallel Imaging

INTRODUCTION Time-resolved 3-dimensional phase-contrast MR imaging (3D-PC MRI) has developed as an active area of research for vascular imaging [1]. The ability to acquired directional flow information along all three principle axes has led to investigations of the role of altered hemodynamics in vascular pathologies[2], quantification of flow in the major intracranical vessels [3], and research into the feasibility of using this technique to generate wall shear stress (WSS) measurements [4]. While 3D-PC MRI shows potential in a wide range of applications, in general the clinical adoption of this approach for routine vascular imaging has been hampered by the long acquisition times inherent in the technique. Several groups have addressed this issue by using parallel imaging to accelerate data acquisition in one dimension [3,4]. In this work we demonstrate the ability to perform autocalibrated parallel imaging in both the in-plane and slice directions to significantly reduce the overall scan time.