Rapid scan magnetic resonance angiography.

The change in phase of transverse spin magnetization induced by macroscopic spin motion in the direction of an applied magnetic field gradient is used to generate projection angiograms. The method can provide a quantitative measure of laminar and pulsatile flow. Cardiac synchronization is not required provided that data are acquired at many points in the cardiac cycle. The use of short TR and a large number of excitations provides better suppression of stationary tissue and patient motion artifacts than is possible with cardiac gated studies. In addition to improvements in image quality, a substantial shortening of scan time is obtained.