3D fast FLAIR: A CSF-nulled 3D fast spin-echo pulse sequence

Since its introduction, the fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequence has found many applications in the central nervous system (CNS), because of its heavy T-2 weighting and excellent cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) suppression. More recently fast spin-echo based variants have been developed that greatly reduce scan time; such sequences are often referred to as "fast FLAIR." We present what we believe to be the first implementation of FLAIR using a three dimensional (3D) fast spin-echo-based pulse sequence, which combines the cerebrospinal fluid suppression and good lesion contrast of two-dimensional fast FLAIR with the advantages of a three-dimensional sequence such as higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) per unit time, thinner slices (giving reduced partial volume effect) and the ability to reformat the data in an arbitrary plane. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.