Rexford D. Newbould1, Giulio Gambarota1
1GSK Clinical Imaging
Centre,
T2* mapping of the liver can be used to assess iron loading, which is relevant in a number of diseases including thalassemia, hereditary hemochromatosis, and sickle cell disease. However, with no innate flow suppression, multi-echo spoiled gradient echo (SPGR) sequences suffer from artifacts originating from flowing blood spins. This work combines a motion-sensitized driven equilibrium (MSDE) preparation with multi-echo SPGR to suppress the blood signal intensity in breath-hold T2* mapping of the liver. Flow suppression is tested in a healthy volunteer, and T2* maps are acquired in five volunteers.
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