Quantization noise and transverse coherence artifacts in 3-D MR images

The author reports on an analysis of artifacts or noise caused by either the inaccurate quantization of data or the propagation of coherent transverse magnetization through different phase-encoding steps in three-dimensional (3-D) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), using images from a human patient an an experimental phantom. Quantization noise became comparable to random noise when the 3-D magnetic resonance data was represented by fewer than 16 bits. Alternative strategies for either maintaining or destroying transverse coherences by using rephasing gradients and spoiler gradients are compared