Diego Hernando1, Catherine D. G. Hines1, Scott B. Reeder1,2
1Radiology, University of
Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United States; 2Medical Physics,
University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United States
Quantitative, non-invasive estimation of R2* is an important biomarker of hepatic iron overload. Unfortunately, estimates of R2* may be confounded by the presence of fat, as well as the signal dephasing that occurs from macroscopic magnetic field gradients caused by external susceptibility. In this work, we propose a method that uses the complex signal for estimation of R2*, correcting for the presence of fat and macroscopic field variations. Phantom and liver imaging results are shown to illustrate the proposed method.