Abstract
Fast field-cycling MRI offers access to sources of endogenous information not available from conventional fixed-field imagers. One example is the T(1) dispersion curve: a plot of T(1) versus field strength. We present a pulse sequence that combines saturation-recovery/inversion-recovery T(1) determination with field cycling and point-resolved spectroscopy localization, enabling the measurement of dispersion curves from volumes selected from a pilot image. Compared with a nonselective sequence, our method of volume selection does not influence measurement accuracy, even for relatively long echo times and in the presence of radiofrequency field nonuniformity. The measured voxel profile, while not ideal, corresponds with that expected from the image slice profile. On a whole-body fast field-cycling scanner with 59-mT detection, the sensitivity of the experiment is sufficient to reveal distinctive "quadrupole dips" in dispersion curves of protein-rich human tissue in vivo.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1698-1702 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Magnetic Resonance in Medicine |
Volume | 63 |
Issue number | 6 |
Early online date | 23 Apr 2010 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jun 2010 |
Keywords
- field-cycling
- T1 relaxometry
- nuclear magnetic resonance
- relaxation dispersion