Fast 3D SSFP Imaging Using a Concentric Cylinders Trajectory

Introduction: A 2D concentric rings trajectory is inherently centric-ordered, provides a smooth weighting in k-space, and enables shorter scan times [1]. Due to these properties, it is well-suited for magnetizationprepared imaging. Extensions of this trajectory for 3D imaging include: 3D stack-of-rings [2] and 3D interleaved concentric cylinders [3,4]. 3D stack-of-rings trajectory directly inherits flexible trade-offs between signal-to-noise ratio, resolution, and speed from 2D concentric rings [2]. 3D interleaved concentric cylinders trajectory is similar to stack-of-rings, but it has a unique property that leads to fewer excitations and benign off-resonance effects [3,4]. In this work, we revisited the 3D interleaved concentric cylinders trajectory and have implemented an SSFP version of this sequence. Among the potential applications of this sequence is non-contrast-enhanced MR angiography based on SSFP.