Self-Navigated Rapid Radial Free-Breathing Liver MR Elastography: Assessment of Technical Performance in Children at 3T

Hepatic stiffness measured by MR elastography (MRE) is a biomarker for fibrosis. Standard liver MRE requires breath-holding (BH) to avoid motion artifacts, but BH is challenging for children. Radial free-breathing (FB) MRE can overcome this challenge but requires longer scan times. Radial FB-MRE using rapid wave encoding decreases the scan time and self-navigation supports motion compensation. With the help of fractional encoding to reduce echo times, image quality can be further improved. This work demonstrated that self-navigated rapid and rapid fractional FB-MRE methods measure hepatic stiffness with close agreement and similar repeatability compared to corresponding BH-MRE in children at 3T.