Evaluation of Correction Methods for Errors in T2* Quantification Caused by Background Gradients

Ruitian Song¹, Travis Bevington¹, Brian Allen Taylor¹, Axel J. Krafft¹, Ralf B. Loeffler¹, Claudia M. Hillenbrand¹

T2* measurement accuracy can be impacted by macroscopic field inhomogeneities (i.e., background gradients) that are introduced by susceptibility changes. Two major methods have been proposed to correct for the errors in T2*-quantification that arise from these background gradients: sinc-weighted fitting of the signal decay (FIT) and direct measurement of the magnetic field (DMF). These two methods are compared and evaluated via phantom and volunteer tests. We conclude that FIT is preferred unless the z component of the magnetic field dominates among the three spatial components.