Abstract #2948

Demonstrating the Influence of Magnetisation Transfer on Putative T1 Relaxation Times: A Simulation Study

Miriam Rabea Kubach¹, Kaveh Vahedipour², Ana Maria Oros-Peusquens², Tony Stoecker², N. Jon Shah^2,3

¹Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine , Forschungszentrum Juelich, Juelich, Germany; ²Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Forschungszentrum Juelich, Juelich, Germany; ³Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology, , RWTH Aachen University, JARA,, Aachen, Germany

T1 is an MRI parameter very sensitive to pathological changes. Proper T1-mapping is therefore vital for many MRI applications, but the variability of T1 values within different methods is larger than within a group of volunteers measured with the same method. The accuracy of the T1 determination is affected by a number of rectifiable parameters but also influenced by MT in ways, which are strongly method-dependent and usually not quantified. We present numerical simulations, based on an existing software package JEMRIS, which allow one to simulate MR sequences considering MT effects. We investigate changes in the T1 relaxation of the observable water component due to the presence of and exchange with a bound proton pool. A simple pulse-acquire sequence is used for simulations, which can be the elementary building block of more realistic MR imaging sequences.