Abstract
Purpose
To investigate the ability of simultaneous multislice triple‐echo steady‐state (SMS‐TESS) imaging to provide quantitative maps of multiple tissue parameters, i.e., longitudinal and transverse relaxation times (T1 and T2), proton density (PD), and off‐resonance (ΔB0), in the human brain at 3T from a single scan.
Methods
TESS acquisitions were performed in 2D mode to reduce motion sensitivity and accelerated by an SMS excitation scheme (CAIPIRINHA) with SENSE reconstruction. SMS‐acceleration factors (R) of 2 and 4 were evaluated. The in vitro and in vivo validation process included standard reference scans to analyze the accuracy of T1, T2, and ΔB0 estimates, as well as single‐slice TESS measurements.
Results
For R = 2, the quantification of T1, T2, PD, and ΔB0 was overall reliable with marginal noise enhancement. T1 and T2 values were in good agreement with the reference measurements and single‐slice TESS. For R = 4, the agreement of ΔB0 with the standard reference was excellent and the determination of T1, T2, and PD was reproducible; however, increased variations in T1 and T2 values with respect to single‐slice TESS were observed.
Conclusion
SMS‐TESS has shown potential to offer rapid simultaneous T1, T2, PD, and ΔB0 mapping of human brain tissues.
Heule, Rahel