Abstract

T1 mapping is increasingly used in clinical practice and research studies. With limited scan time, existing techniques often have limited spatial resolution, contrast resolution, and slice coverage. High fat concentrations yield complex errors in Look-Locker T1 methods. In this study, a dual-echo 2D radial IR T1 (DEradIR-T1) technique was developed for fast fat/water-separated T1 mapping. The DEradIR-T1 technique was tested in phantoms, 5 volunteers and 28 patients using a 3T clinical MRI scanner. In our study, simulations were performed to analyze the composite (fat + water) and water-only T1 under different echo times (TEs). In standardized phantoms, an inversion-recovery spin echo (IR-SE) sequence with and without fat saturation pulses served as a T1 reference. Parameter mapping with DEradIR-T1 was also assessed in vivo and values were compared with modified Look-Locker inversion recovery (MOLLI). Bland-Altman analysis and two-tailed paired t-test were used to compare the parameter maps from DEradIR-T1 with the references. Simulations of the composite and water-only T1 under different TEs and levels of fat matched the in vivo studies. T1 maps from DEradIR-T1 on a NIST phantom (PComp =0.97) and a Calimetrix fat/water phantom (PWater = 0.56) matched with the references. In vivo T1 was compared with that of MOLLI: R Comp 2 = 0.77 ; R water 2 = 0.72 . In this work, intravoxel fat is found to have a variable, echo-time dependent effect on measured T1 values, and this effect may be mitigated using the proposed DRradIR-T1.

View details for DOI 10.1002/nbm.4803

View details for PubMedID 35891586