*** please note this page is still under construction ***
Below is a directory of general (non-pulse sequence related) and pulse sequence acronyms. In addition to definitions that are part of the everyday MRI lexicon, additional definitions are taken from:
As new acronyms are submitted and added, their respective contributors will be appropriately cited and recognized.
To select an acronym from an alphabetically arranged list, scroll below. To search for a particular acroynm or definition, use our search page.
Note: Only those acronyms which are in italics have their own seperate page(s). To jump directly to the complete reference of the acronym of your choice, click on the letter which begins with the name of the acronym wanted.
MRI Acronym Alphabetical List :
Acronym Expansion 3D FASTER (Radiology 173:743, 1989) 3D GRE 3D Gradient Echo 3D MP RAGE 3D Magnetization Prepared RApid Gradient Echo ADA Alternated Delay Acquisition ADC Apparent Diffusion Coefficient ADRF Adiabatic Demagnetization in The Rotating Frame APT Attached Proton Test ARP Adiabatic Rapid Passage ASIS Aromatic Solvent-Induced Shift BASE Basis Imaging with Selective Inversion-Prepared bEPI blipped Echo Planar Imaging BIRD Bilinear Rotation Decoupling BMS Bulk Magnetic Susceptibility BOLD Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent contrast (SMRM 9, 654) BOSS BimOdal Slice Select rf pulse BP MR BiPhasic MR imaging BW Bandwidth CAMELSPIN Cross-Relaxation Appropriate for Minimolecules Emulated by Locked Spins CBF Cerebral Blood Flow CE-FAST Contrast-Enhanced FAST (Picker) CIDNP Chemically Induced Dynamic Nuclear Depolarization CNR Contrast to Noise Ratio CP Cross Polarization CPMG CSMEMP Contiguous Slice MEMP (Radiology 173(P) 119, 1989) DCT Discrete Cosine Transform DFT Discrete Fourier Transform DIGGEST Direct Imaging of local Gradients by Group Echo Selection Tomography (SMRM 9, 131) DISE Driven Inversion Spin Echo (SMRM 9, 81) DMSSFP Double-Mode Steady State Free Precession (SMRM 9, 1165) DOPING DOuble Pulse INterlaced Echo ImaginG (SMRM 9, 309) DPSF Diffusion/Perfusion Snapshot Flash DWI Diffusion Weighted Imaging (SMRM 7, 890, 1988) EFG Electric Field Gradient ELD Energy Level Diagram EPC Echo Phase Correction (SMRM 9, 425) EPI Echo Planar Imaging ETL Echo Train Length FAcE Fid Acquired Echoes (SMRM 8, 847, 1989) FAST Fourier Acquired Steady State FATS Fat suppressed Acquisition with TE and TR Times Shortened I (SMRM 9, 187) FC Flow Compensation FE Field Echo, Frequency Encode FEER Field Even Echo Rephasing FFE Fast Field Echo FFF Fast Fourier Flow FFP Fast Fourier Projection FID Free Induction Decay FIRFT Fast Inversion-Recovery Fourier Transform FISP Fast Imaging with Steady-State Precession FLAIR Fluid Attenuation Inversion Recovery FLASH Fast Low Angle Shot fMRI Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging FOV Field of View FR Frequency Encode FSE Fast Spin Echo (Turbo Spin Echo) FT Fourier Transform FWHM Full Width at Half Maximum G Gauss GARP Globally Optimized Alternating Phase Rectangular Pulse GATORCIST Respiratory Gated Imaging Gd Gadolinium GINSEST Generalised INterferography using Spin Echoes and Stimulated echoes (SMRM 9, 267) GMN Gradient Moment Nulling GRASS Gradient Acquisition in Steady State GRE Gradient Echo Imaging GREAT Ghost Reduction by Equalized Acquisition Triplets (SMRM 9, 1346) GROPE Generalized Compensation for Resonance Offset and Pulse Length Errors HASTE Half-Fourier Acquisition Single Shot Turbo Spin-Echo IR Inversion Recovery IR-EPI Inversion Recovery Echo Planar Imaging (MRM) IVIM IntraVoxel Incoherent Motion (SMRM 9, 374) LIS Lanthanide Induced Shift LP Linear Prediction LS Line Scanning (MRM 7, 79, 1988) LSR Lanthanide Shift Reagent MAST Motion Artifact Suppression Technique MBS-MRA Minimum Basis Set Magnetic Resonance Angiography MEMP MESS Multiple Echo Single Shot (SMRM 9, 456") mFISP Mirrored FISP MIP Maximum Intensity Projection MOTSA Multiple Overlapping Thin Slab Acquisition MP-RAGE Magnetization Prepared RApid Gradient Echo I "JMRI 8, 115, 1990" MRA Magnetic Resonance Angiography MS-EPI Multi-Shot Echo Planar Imaging MTC Magnetization Transfer Contrast MTSA Multiple Thin Slab Acquisition NEX Number of Excitations NSA Number of Signal Averages PC Phase Contrast PE Phase Encoding PEG Phase Encode Grouping PET Positron Emission Tomography POMP Phase Ordered Multi-Planar (SMRM 7, 241 1988) PPG Peripheral Pulse Gating PPM Parts per Millions PRFT Partially Relaxed Fourier Transform PSR Phase Sampling Ratio QCSI Quantitative Chemical Shift Imaging (SMRM 9, 1099) QMRI Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (SMRM 9, 19, 1990) QUIPPS QUantitative Imaging of Perfusion using a Single Subtraction RARE Rapid Acquisition Relaxation Enhanced (MRM 3, 823, 1986) RARE Rapid Acquisition with Refocussed Echoes RASE Rapid Acquisition Spin Echo I "SMRM 9, 161" rCBF Regional Cerebral Blood Flow RF-FAST RF-spoiled FAST ROI Region Of Interest ROPE Respiratory Ordered Phase Encoding I "JCAT, 9(4): 835, 1985" RUFIS Rotating Ultra-Fast Imaging Sequence SAAV Simultaneous Acquisition of Artery and Vein SE Spin-Echo Imaging sEPI spiral EPI SIMUSIM Simultaneous Multi Slice Imaging (MRM 10, 145, 1989) SIP Saturation Inversion Projection SMART Simultaneous Multislice Acquisition Using Rosette Trajectories SMaRT Simultaneous Multislice Acquisition with aRterial-flow Tagging SMI Simultaneous Multislice Imaging (SMRM 8, 275, 1988) SNR Signal to Noise Ratio SPACE Spatial and Chemical-Shift Encoded Excitation SPAMM SPAtial Modulation of Magnetization I "Radiology 171:841, 1989" Leon Axel SPECT Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography SPGR SPoiled Gradient Recalled (Spoiled GRASS) SPI Selective Population Inversion SPT Selective Population Transfer SS Slice Select Gradient SSFP Steady State Free Precession (GE) STE Stimulated Echo STIR Short Tau (inversion Time) Inversion Recovery STREAM Suppressed Tissue with Refreshment Angiography Method A "SMRM 9, 171" T Tesla TCF Time Correlation Function TD Trigger Delay TE Time Delay between excitation and Echo Maximum TEI TE interleaved "SMRM 9, 437" TI Time following Inversion Pulse TMR Topical Magnetic Resonance TOF Time of Flight TOSS Total Supression of Sidebands T2 PEDD T2 Proton Electron Dipole Dipole interaction TPPI Time-Proportional Phase Incrementation T2 PRE T2 Proton Relaxation Enhancement TR Time to Repetition TSR Total Saturation Recovery "SMRM 9, 19, '90" TurboFLASH Turbo Fast Low Angle Shot UE Unpaired Electron USPIO Ultrasmall SuperParamagnetic Iron Oxide VAS Variable Angle Spinning VENC Velocity Encoding Value VIGRE Gradient Echo VINNIE Velocity encode CINE imaging - GE VOI Volume of Interest VPS Views Per Segment WATERGATE Water Suppression Pulse Sequence WEFT Water Eliminated Fourier Transform