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Abstract #0427

MR Imaging with T1 Dispersion Contrast

Ungersma S, Matter N, Hardy J, Venook R, Macovski A, Conolly S, Scott G
Stanford University

Prepolarized MRI can polarize a sample at high field, then allow the magnetization to decay at an evolutionary field strength before imaging at low field. The difference between images collected with two different evolutionary field strengths yields an image with contrast reflecting the slope of the T1 vs. field dispersion curve over a small field range. We present in vivo images of the wrist and foot with protein-content contrast using our method for creating T1 dispersion contrast between fat (no protein), which has roughly constant T1, and muscle tissue (high protein), which has rapidly varying T1 near the quadrupole dips.