Optimizing Saturation-Recovery Measurements of the Longitudinal Relaxation Rate Under Time Constraints

Jung-Jiin Hsu¹, Gary H. Glover¹, Greg Zaharchuk¹

The oxygen concentration in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) can be determined by CSF's longitudinal relaxation time T₁. Because CSF has long T₁, the T₁ measurement can be very time-consuming. For CSF MR oximetry to be clinically feasible, the total scan time must be shortened. In this work, Monte Carlo computer simulation was carried out to determine the optimal imaging parameters under strict constraints of constant total scan time. With the optimization, three-dimensional, high resolution, whole brain saturation-recovery scans can be completed in 10 minutes and can generate CSF relaxation measurements in agreement with the best literature results.