Statistical Analysis of Parameter Estimation for Multiexponential Decay in MR Relaxometry in One, Two, and Higher Dimensions

Analysis of multiexponential decay has remained a topic of active research for over 200 years, attesting to the difficulty in deriving the rate constants and component amplitudes of the underlying monoexponential decays. We have shown previously that parameter estimates from 2D relaxometry, with two distinct time variables, exhibit substantially greater accuracy and precision than those from analysis of 1D data, with a single time variable. We now present a statistical study of this remarkable phenomenon and indicate applications in 2D relaxometry and related experiments. These results provide a potential means of circumventing conventional limits on multiexponential parameter estimation.