• Mi Hye Yu, Jeong Min Lee, Jeong-Hee Yoon, Berthold Kiefer, Joon Koo Han, and Byung-Ihn Choi.
• Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
• J Magn Reson Imaging. 2013 Nov 1; 38 (5): 1020-6.

PurposeTo determine whether a controlled aliasing in parallel imaging results in higher acceleration (CAIPIRINHA) technique can improve the image quality of three-dimensional (3D), T1-weighted gradient echo (T1w-GRE) imaging compared with the use of a standard, parallel acquisition technique (PAT).Materials And MethodsSixty-four patients who underwent liver MR on a 3 Tesla (T) scanner, were included in this study. Twenty minutes after the injection of 0.025 mmole/kg of gadoxetic acid, 3D T1w-GRE imaging (volumetric interpolated breathhold examination [VIBE]) was acquired twice using a generalized autocalibrating partially parallel acquisition (384 × 250 matrix, acceleration factor [AF] of 2) and a CAIPIRINHA (384 × 380 matrix, AF of 4), respectively. Qualitative image analysis was performed for two image sets.ResultsCAIPIRINHA-VIBE showed better hepatic vessel clarity and lesion conspicuity than standard VIBE (P < 0.05). CAIPIRINHA-VIBE in the coronal plane also provided better results of motion artifact and liver edge sharpness than the standard VIBE (P < 0.05). Despite the more apparent PAT artifact on CAIPIRINHA-VIBE than on standard VIBE (P < 0.05), CAIPIRINHA-VIBE showed better overall image quality.ConclusionThe CAIPIRINHA-VIBE was able to provide a higher spatial resolution, T1-weighted imaging with better image quality compared with a standard VIBE.Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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