Dylan Breitkreutz1,
2, Kelly C. McPhee1, R. Marc Lebel2, Alan H.
Wilman1, 2
1Department
of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; 2Department
of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Stimulated echo compensation enables accurate single component T2 quantification by accounting for both stimulated-echo and spin-echo pathways to produce both T2 and flip angle maps from multi-echo data. In order to avoid non-unique solutions, the algorithm constrains refocusing angles to ≤ 180˚. This work demonstrates the limitations of this assumption, and examines the value of an independent and accurate flip angle map. The results indicate the independent flip angle map is particularly valuable in 2D experiments where refocusing angles exceed 180˚.