Abstract #2537

Assessment of Interslice MT Signal Characteristics of BSSFP for MTR Imaging of the Human Brain

Jeffrey William Barker¹,², Kyongtae Ty Bae¹, Sung-Hong Park,¹³

¹Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; ²Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; ³Bio and Brain Engineering, Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Yuseong-gu, Korea

For our newly developed MT ratio (MTR) imaging, we assessed characteristics of interslice MT signals, that are inherent to multi-slice bSSFP imaging for varying flip angle and phase encoding (PE) order. We compared <I>in vivo</I> MTR values to two-pool model simulations. Overall, MTR and SNR values increased with flip angle. Centric PE images showed higher MTR values, higher SNR, and better WM/GM contrast. Linear PE image contrast was influenced by relaxation effects. Simulations agreed well with <I>in vivo data</I>. Our study assessed characteristic factors of the interslice MTR method to be considered for MTR imaging in the brain.