1Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States, 2Department of Neurology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, United States
We propose a new MR experiment called diffusion-relaxation correlation
spectroscopic imaging (DR-CSI). DR-CSI
acquires imaging data across a range of different b-value and echo time
combinations, and then performs regularized reconstruction to generate a 2D
diffusion-relaxation correlation spectrum for every voxel. The peaks of this spectrum correspond to the
different tissue microenvironments that are present within each macroscopic
imaging voxel, which provides powerful insight into the tissue microstructure.
Compared to standard relaxometry or diffusion imaging, DR-CSI provides unique
capabilities to resolve tissue compartments that have similar relaxation or
diffusion parameters. DR-CSI is
demonstrated with spinal cord traumatic injury MRI data.
