Robust Free-breathing Abdominal Fast Spin-Echo MRI Enabled by Improved Repeated k-t-subsampling and Artifact Minimization (iReKAM)

Motivation: Motion artifacts in free-breathing abdominal T2-weighted MRI can limit image clarity. Current bootstrapping-based technique has limitation in fully compensating for motion artifacts, highlighting a need for further development. Goal(s): The primary goal was to enhance image quality in a free-breathing abdominal T2-weighted MRI technique, aiming for improving the robustness in reducing motion artifacts. Approach: We developed an improved algorithm named iReKAM and acquired the repeated k-t-space data with phase encoding along RL, both of which contributed to effectively minimizing local motion artifacts. Results: iReKAM shows better robustness in producing high-quality free-breathing abdominal images. Impact: iReKAM can enhance motion compensation performance in free-breathing abdominal T2-weighted MRI, resulting in higher robustness and image quality. This improvement is particularly beneficial for accurate diagnosis, as it can enable higher-quality free-breathing imaging for challenging patients.