Highly accelerated non‐contrast‐enhanced time‐resolved 4D MRA using stack‐of‐stars golden‐angle radial acquisition with a self‐calibrated low‐rank subspace reconstruction

Abstract Purpose To develop a highly accelerated non‐contrast‐enhanced 4D‐MRA technique by combining stack‐of‐stars golden‐angle radial acquisition with a modified self‐calibrated low‐rank subspace reconstruction. Methods A low‐rank subspace reconstruction framework was introduced in radial 4D MRA (SUPER 4D MRA) by combining stack‐of‐stars golden‐angle radial acquisition with control‐label k‐space subtraction‐based low‐rank subspace modeling. Radial 4D MRA data were acquired and reconstructed using the proposed technique on 12 healthy volunteers and 1 patient with steno‐occlusive disease. The performance of SUPER 4D MRA was compared with two temporally constrained reconstruction methods (golden‐angle radial sparse parallel GRASP and GRASP‐Pro) at different acceleration rates in terms of image quality and delineation of blood dynamics. Results SUPER 4D MRA outperformed the other two reconstruction methods, offering superior image quality with a clear background and detailed delineation of cerebrovascular structures as well as great temporal fidelity in blood flow dynamics. SUPER 4D MRA maintained excellent performance even at higher acceleration rates. Conclusions SUPER 4D MRA is a promising technique for highly accelerating 4D MRA acquisition without comprising both temporal fidelity and image quality.