Accelerated 3D Mapping of Whole Brain Venous Oxygenation With Nested‐Shift Under Sampling and ESPIRIT Reconstruction

Purpose Non‐invasive whole brain mapping of cerebral venous oxygenation ( Y v ) is essential in brain diseases. This study aims to develop a 3D T 2 ‐Relaxation‐Under‐Velocity‐Encoding‐and‐Rapid‐Acquisition (TRU‐VERA) sequence for whole‐brain Y v quantification in both cortical and deep cerebral veins. Methods Three Cartesian k z – t under‐sampling strategies (static, nested‐shift, and ordinary‐shift) and five reconstruction methods (SENSE, ESPIRIT, local low rank, global low rank, compressed sensing) were tested for Y v estimation accuracy. The optimized 3D TRU‐VERA was validated with TRUST and 2D TRUPC. Its reproducibility as well as sensitivity to caffeine and age‐related oxygenation changes were examined. Results Nested‐shift under‐sampling with ESPIRIT provided optimal accuracy, achieving 1.04 × 1.04 × 2 mm 3 resolution with four eTEs in 7 min 23 s. Y v measured by 3D TRU‐VERA showed strong correlation with TRUST ( R 2 = 0.731) and TRUPC (SSS: R 2 = 0.733, deep veins: R 2 = 0.661), and had an excellent reproducibility with an intrasession CoV of 2.3% ± 1.5% for large veins and 4.0% ± 3.2% for cortical veins, and intersession CoV of 2.2% ± 1.5% and 4.0% ± 4.2%, respectively. Conclusion The 3D TRU‐VERA sequence enables high‐resolution, reproducible, and non‐invasive assessment of venous oxygenation across the entire brain, providing vessel‐specific quantification and comprehensive evaluation of regional cerebral oxygen metabolism.