Motivation: To enhance image quality of free-breathing spiral cardiac cine imaging at 3T, which a particular focus on improving image contrast and reducing artifacts. Goal(s): This study aims to demonstrate that optimizing both data acquisition and the reconstruction algorithm can enhance overall image quality by improving image contrast and reducing artifacts. Approach: A variable flip angle scheme based on extended phase graphs (EPG) simulation and a region-optimized virtual coils algorithm were developed. Results: The in vivo experiments demonstrate that the proposed methods outperform the conventional acquisition and reconstruction methods at 8-fold under-sampling rate. Impact: Reduced image contrast, along with interference artifacts can restrict the clinical use of free-breathing spiral cardiac cine imaging at 3T. The optimizations presented here offer significant potential to broaden the clinical applicability of this technique at 3T.
Yan et al. (Tue,) studied this question.