T2 Mapping to Differentiate Slow Flowing Blood from Vessel Wall

Ryan Brown¹, Thanh D. Nguyen¹, Pascal Spincemaille¹, Grace Choi¹, Matthew D. Cham¹, Priscilla A. Winchester¹, Martin R. Prince¹, Yi Wang¹

Double inversion recovery (DIR) blood suppression is excellent when blood velocity is high but may be compromised when velocity is reduced as in the lower extremities. In this study, T2 mapping was utilized to distinguish artifactual partial blood signal from vessel wall signal at three vessel sites with different flow characteristics. We found that DIR blood suppression was sufficient in the aorta and common femoral artery but may be inadequate for vessel wall imaging in the popliteal artery where blood flow is typically reduced and triphasic, resulting in inflated vessel wall area and T2 relaxation measurements.