Abstract #3417

Mapping the T1/T2 Ratio of the Human Head with Multispectral QMRI at 3T

Kotaro Sekiya¹,², Memi Watanabe¹, Osamu Sakai¹, Rohini N. Nadgir¹, Adham A. Mottalib¹, Mingxin Zheng³, Hernan Jara¹

¹Boston Medical Center, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States; ²Nihon University Graduate School of Dentistry at Matsudo, Chiba, Japan, Japan; ³Graduate Student of Biomedical Engineering Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States

Purpose: To develop a technique for mapping the qMRI T1/T2 ratio and to study the hierarchical order of T1/T2 ratio values of the normal human head. Methods: A variant of the mixed turbo spin echo pulse sequence which is multispectral in PD, T1, and T2 was used at 3T. Images were processed with qMRI algorithms to generate T1/T2 ratio maps and whole head histogram. Results: The resulting T1/T2 ratio maps exhibit dark CSF and bright muscles. The cerebral tissues appear in the hierarchy of signal intensities of a T2-weighted fluid attenuated with inversion recovery (T2W-FLAIR) image. Conclusion: A technique for mapping the T1/T2 relaxometric ratio has been developed.