Possible identification of turbulent abnormalities in blood flow patterns using an improved multiparametric encoding gradients in MRI

A magnetic resonance approach is described for imaging turbulence in blood flow velocity profiles. A general gradient is constructed in such a way that an imaging differentiation between stationary spins, constant-velocity spins, accelerated spins, jerked spins and spins of higher moments of motion is obtained. In most cases, moments of order higher than the fifth will be negligible. Therefore, in cases of no turbulence, removal of motion artifacts may be achieved. In cases of turbulence or lack of determination of motion parameters, signal reduction is expected. In cases where motion is fully characterized except for turbulence, it will be possible to identify turbulent regions by the signal reduction, which causes blackening of the image. This will allow abnormal blood flow patterns to be detected in vivo