Design of a differential single-band presaturated ultrashort echo time (dSB-UTE) sequence for accelerated short-T2 imaging

Motivation: Short-T2 imaging requires ultrashort echo time (UTE) sequences with long scan times. The PINS-UTE sequence uses simultaneous multi-slice techniques to reduce UTE scan times, but its prepulse results in short-T2 signal loss and out-of-slice signal. Goal(s): To implement a novel differential single-band presaturated UTE (dSB-UTE) sequence to improve simultaneous multi-slice UTE imaging. Approach: The dSB-UTE sequence uses single-band presaturation that is shifted in the slice-select direction between subsequent acquisitions. Subtracting acquisitions results in two simultaneous slices. Results: The effects of prepulse flip angle on saturation band profiles are reported and we demonstrate the ability of the dSB-UTE sequence to acquire two simultaneous slices. Impact: The dSB-UTE sequence is expected to reduce scan times for short-T2 imaging by a factor of 1.55-4.72 while achieving the same echo times as current UTE sequences. The dSB-UTE shows improved image quality over other simultaneous multi-slice UTE techniques.