Highly Accelerated and High-resolution T2 Mapping in the Kidney Based on Echo Merging Plus k-t Undersampling with Reduced Refocusing Flip Angles

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We developed a highly accelerated multi-echo spin-echo (MESE) method based on echo merging and k-t undersampling with reduced flip angles (TEMPURA), which can be used to either reduce the acquisition time or increase spatial resolution for multi-slice kidney T2 mapping. Compared with a standardized respiratory-gated MESE sequence, fast TEMPURA reduced the acquisition time from 3–5 minutes to one breath-hold (18 s) without degrading measurement accuracy or image quality. It also outperformed using k-t undersampling alone. High-resolution TEMPURA reduced the pixel size from 3×3 mm2 to 1×1 mm2 and greatly improved the visualization of detailed structures.