Spiral-In/Out MR Elastography with Fat-Water Image Reconstruction for the Quantification of Skull and Brain Motion

This study uses a novel multishot spiral-in/out fat-water magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) pulse sequence to simultaneously measure skull and brain motion in vivo in a single acquisition. Results in a healthy volunteer showed reduced transmission of motion from the skull to the brain in all three directions of motion. Additionally, the motion of the skull and brain appear to be in phase, with the scalp moving out of phase and most overall displacement in the direction of actuation. This research provides a basis for future studies quantifying skull-brain coupling with multiple actuation frequencies and excitation directions.