Abstract #2665

Tofts P, Tozer D, Barker G, van Buchem M, Steens S, Cercignani M, Teeuwisse W, van Osch M, Admiraal-Behloul F

Six major factors must be understood and controlled in brain MTR histogram generation: 1) Transmitter coil 2) Imager stability and setup procedure 3) MT pulse shape 4) MT pulse sequence 5) Image registration and segmentation 6) Histogram generation. The major uncontrolled intercentre factor has been B1 nonuniformity. By using body-coil transmission this difference was almost eliminated in a two-centre comparison of whole-brain histograms using different manufacturers, and five different normal controls at each centre. Centre mean peak location values differed by only 1.3 percent units. Peak height values did not differ (p=0.32). Body-coil transmission is very desirable for multicentre work.