Arjun Sethi1,
Nicholas G. Dowell2, Neil A. Harrison1, Mara Cercignani1
1CISC,
Brighton & Sussex Medical School, Brighton, United Kingdom; 2CISC,
Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, United Kingdom
The purpose of this paper is to select the best combination of acquisition parameters to maximize the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) between the substantia nigra and the surrounding white matter in magnetization transfer (MT) saturation maps. We used simulations based on quantitative MT models and the propagation of error equation to compute the CNR and extensively searched a 4-dimensional parameter space. Results show that the best CNR is found for the maximum MT saturation. In vivo data are used to support the results obtained with simulations.