Abstract #4084

A New Quantitative MRI Contrast for Measuring White Matter Myelin

Aviv A. Mezer¹, Nikola Stikov², Kendrick Kay, Robert Dougherty, Jason Yeatman, Josef Parvizi³, Brian Wandell

¹ Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States; ²Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States; ³Neurology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States

Several MRI techniques have been proposed for quantifying white matter. Here we propose a new approach for quantifying the hydration layer fraction (HLF) in the brain. The myelin content estimation is based on fast acquisition of proton density (PD) and T1 maps and a simple approach for combining these maps. The advantage of the HLF is that it enables the analysis at high spatial resolution, with short scan times, using simple calculations. We propose the method as a tool to measure WM myelin content in normal and multipul slcorosis (MS) patients.