Christopher Marek Wernik1, Venkat Ramanan2,
Graham A. Wright1,2, Christopher K. Macgowan1,3
1Dept. of Medical Biophysics,
University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; 2Imaging Research,
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada; 3Dept. of
Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
MR
oximetry based on quantitative T2 measurement is a noninvasive technique for
measuring blood oxygen saturation. However, partial volume effects limit T2
accuracy in narrow vessels or impose long scan times at reduced SNR. In this
study, we propose an improved technique which uses Fourier velocity encoding
to control for partial volume effects and test its feasibility using an
apparatus that mimics constant blood flow in a vessel. The results show that
the proposed technique is more accurate than conventional MR oximetry in the
presence of partial volume effects. Considerations for in vivo application
are discussed.