Abdominal MR Fingerprinting with In-bore Breathing Guidance

MR fingerprinting (MRF) in the abdomen is challenging due to respiratory motion. In this study, as an alternative to a series of extended breath-holds which could be challenging especially for patients, visual and auditive in-bore breathing guidance was used during the MRF scans for better patient comfort. MRF sequences were designed based on predefined breathing patterns such that data are acquired only during exhale holds. The corresponding MRF dictionaries were calculated beforehand to enable real-time matching of quantitative maps. We demonstrate that MRF scans with guided breathing provide comparable abdominal T1 and T2 maps as those with breath-holds.