Stimulated Echo Compensation Enables Accurate Transverse Relaxometry with Short Echo Train Multi-Echo Spin Echo Imaging.

Md. Nasir Uddin¹, R. Marc Lebel¹, Alan H. Wilman¹

Standard transverse relaxometry makes use of a multi-echo spin echo sequence, typically with a large number of echoes to enable accurate T2 fitting. Reducing the number of echoes would enable substantially reduced RF heating and increased slice coverage. However, in the presence of spatially varying RF fields, across or within a slice, standard exponential fitting methods are shown to perform poorly with limited echo trains. We demonstrate the use of a stimulated echo correction to enable reduction of echo trains to as few as four echoes while retaining accurate T2 fits in the human brain.