Echo-planar imaging

• Published in: Radiographics Vol. 14; no. 5; p. 1045
• Main Author: DeLaPaz, R L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.09.1994
• Subjects: Abdomen - anatomy & histology; Echo-Planar Imaging - methods; Head - anatomy & histology; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Sensitivity and Specificity
• ISSN: 0271-5333
• DOI: 10.1148/radiographics.14.5.7991813

Echo-planar imaging is a fast magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technique that allows acquisition of single images in as little as 20 msec and performance of multiple-image studies in as little as 20 seconds. Echo-planar imaging achieves its speed by obtaining all spatial-encoding information after a single radio-frequency (RF) excitation. Conventional imaging requires multiple-RF excitations, separated by the repetition time (TR), to acquire this information. An "infinite" TR, routine lipid suppression, and sensitivity to magnetic susceptibility are other features of echo-planar imaging. Standard pulse sequences are used to obtain echo-planar images, which have diagnostic utility similar to that of conventional MR images. Echo-planar imaging is less sensitive to motion than is conventional MR imaging and allows imaging of rapidly changing physiologic processes such as blood flow and kinetic activity. Echo-planar imaging is opening new areas of MR imaging research and clinical applications.