Dual‐Echo Interleaved Echo‐Planar Imaging of the Brain

Abstract
An interleaved echo‐planar imaging (EPI) technique is described that provides images from 20 sections of the brain at two echo times (27 and 84 ms) in 1:05. Six echoes per image per repetition are collected in 24 repetitions of the pulse sequence. MR images of the brain obtained from five volunteers using the dual‐echo EPI sequence, fast spin‐echo (FSE), and conventional dual‐echo spin‐echo were evaluated qualitatively for diagnostic use and quantitatively for relative signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR), contrast, and contrast‐to‐noise ratios (CNR).