Kelvin J. Layton1,
2, Mark Morelande1, David Wright3, Peter M.
Farrell1, Bill Moran1, Leigh A. Johnston1,
3
1Electrical
and Electronic Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria,
Australia; 2National ICT Australia, Parkville, Victoria,
Australia; 3Florey Neuroscience Institutes, Parkville, Victoria,
Australia
This work extends an existing algorithm for multicomponent T2 estimation to account for stimulated echoes using the extended phase graph (EPG) algorithm. The resulting Bayesian algorithm produces reliable multicomponent T2 maps in the presence of dramatic flip angle variation, such as those produced by a transceive surface coil. The method is validated using experimental data acquired on a 4.7T small-bore scanner. Multicomponent T2 maps are generated with and without stimulated echo correction, to demonstrate the importance of the correction. The proposed algorithm is also compared to the commonly used non-negative least squares (NNLS) algorithm and differences are highlighted.