Improving spatiotemporal resolution of USPIO-enhanced dynamic imaging of rat kidneys

This paper addresses the problem of enhancing spatiotemporal resolution of ultra-small superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO)-enhanced dynamic MRI of rat kidneys. To alleviate the limited resolution problem of conventional full-scan Fourier imaging methods, we use a generalized series-based imaging scheme to reduce coverage of k-space. Experimental results demonstrate that the generalized series imaging method with basis functions constructed using two references (pre- and post-contrast) can reduce the number of phase encodings measured during the dynamic contrast wash-in process by a factor of 4 with a negligible or minimal loss of image quality. The method is expected to make 3D studies possible using USPIO-enhanced dynamic imaging of rat kidneys, and prove valuable for early detection of renal rejection after kidney transplantation.