Acceleration of Multi-Echo MP2RAGE using Interleaved Undersampling and Joint-Contrast Reconstruction

In this study, we evaluated the use of interleaved undersampling and joint-contrast reconstruction to accelerate multi-echo MP2RAGE. We compared three sampling patterns (GRAPPA, interleaved GRAPPA, and CIRCUS) and five reconstruction algorithms (GRAPPA, ESPIRIT, LORAKS, Joint-GRAPPA, and Joint-LORAKS) using retrospective undersampling experiments. The results demonstrated better performance achieved using joint-contrast compared to single-contrast reconstruction, and CIRCUS sampling compared to GRAPPA. With the combination of CIRCUS undersampling and Joint-LORAKS reconstruction, we obtained quantitative measurements of T1, R2*, QSM, and volumes at R=6.8 highly consistent with the fully sampled data, demonstrating the potential of using the proposed strategy to accelerate ME-MP2RAGE acquisition.