Development of a time-resolved 3D phase contrast protocol for the upper leg muscles during dynamic exercise: Initial results

Motivation: Dynamic phase-contrast (PC) MRI is a promising tool to study muscle function and has primarily been used in the lower legs. However, studying the thighs is of great importance as many diseases affect the upper legs first. Goal(s): To investigate different undersampling factors and ΔB0 effects on the PC-MRI data quality in the thigh muscles. Approach: PC-MRI of five healthy volunteers during dynamic exercise was obtained. Phase-contrast data were retrospectively undersampled. The effect of undersampling factor on the velocity pattern was investigated. Results: With undersampling factors up to 18, the velocity pattern in maintained and the velocity-to-noise-ratio is not different between undersampling factors. Impact: Phase-contrast MRI is a promising tool to assess muscle contractions and muscle function. In this work, we investigated the effect of undersampling and B0 on PC-MRI data quality in the thigh muscles and found consistent z-velocites for all undersampling factors.