Influence of Contrast-Dependent T2* Effects on DCE-MRI of the Prostate at 7T

Gregory J. Metzger¹, Patrick J. Bolan¹

The desire to perform DCE-MRI studies at ever increasing magnetic fields comes from the promise of increased spatial and temporal resolution. However, to effectively use DCE-MRI data at high fields, the increasing influence of T2* must be understood to avoid misinterpretation of results. Increased R2* (1/T2*) relaxivity and compartmentalization effects are shown to greatly change the shape of the contrast enhancement curves in both the vessel and tissue in prostate studies at 7T. Strategies to correct or mitigate these effects are necessary especially if pharmacokinetic modeling of ultra high field DCE-MRI studies is the goal.