Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Imaging 2D Interslice MT Ratio Asymmetry

Sung-Hong Park¹, Jeffrey W. Barker¹, ², Kyongtae Ty Bae¹

Alternate Ascending/Descending Directional Navigation (ALADDIN) is a new imaging technique that provides interslice magnetization transfer (MT) asymmetry images with no separate preparation pulse. In this article, we investigated the ALADDIN MT asymmetry at various flip angles. The MT asymmetry signals peaked at around 60 degree. Centric phase encode order provided about twice higher MT asymmetry signals than linear phase encode order. Experimental results agreed with simulations results. The simulation results also showed that MT asymmetry signals decay with RF excitations faster at higher flip angle. The results of the study expand our knowledge on the interslice MT asymmetry signals.