Dania Daye1, Kejia Cai2, Mohammad
Haris2, Anup Singh2, Santosh Gaddam2,
Rebecca Wells3,4, Emma Furth, Ravinder Reddy2
1Department of Bioengineering,
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States; 2Department
of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States; 3Department
of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; 4Department
of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, PA, United States
It
has been previously shown that T1ρ weighted MR imaging has significant
potential to provide for a non-invasive assessment of liver disease,
specifically in fibrosis. In T1ρ weighted imaging, nuclear spins are
locked with a radiofrequency locking field, yielding a longitudinal
relaxation time (T1ρ) in the rotating frame. By varying the strength of
the locking field (B1), it is possible to make the T1ρ relaxation time
changes sensitive to different contrast mechanisms in tissues. Here, we show
that that T1 ρ dispersion technique has significant potential to differentiate
between different liver pathologies as well al further characterize certain
pathologies, such as fibrosis.