Ningzhi Li1, Wen-tung Wang2, Dzung L. Pham1, John A. Butman3
1Image Processing Core, Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Bethesda, MD, United States; 2Human Imaging Core, Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Bethesda, MD, United States; 3Radiology Department, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
A novel approach for choosing echo time in susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) is introduced in this study. A model for SWI signal is derived, based on which optimal echo time can be chosen to yield maximum susceptibility contrast enhancement for a selected tissue type. Use of this approach requires information about tissue T2* values and phase characteristics, both of which can be easily obtained from multi-echo dataset. We find that optimal echo times are close to the T2* of the tissue.