Probing signal phase in direct visualization of short transverse relaxation time component (ViSTa)

To demonstrate the phase evolutions of direct visualization of short transverse relaxation time component (ViSTa) matches with those of myelin water.

Myelin water imaging (MWI) measures short transverse signals and has been suggested as a biomarker for myelin. Recently, a new approach, ViSTa, has been proposed to acquire short T2* signals by suppressing long T1 signals. This method does not require any ill-conditioned data processing and therefore provides high-quality images. In this study, the phase of the ViSTa signal was compared with the phase of myelin water simulated by the magnetic susceptibility model of hollow cylinder.

The phase evolutions of the ViSTa signal were similar to the simulated myelin water phase evolutions. When fiber orientation was perpendicular relative to the main magnetic field, both the ViSTa and the simulated myelin water phase showed large positive frequency shifts, whereas the gradient echo phase showed a slightly negative frequency shift. Additionally, the myelin water phase map generated using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) information revealed a good match with the ViSTa phase image.

The results of this study support the origin of ViSTa signal as myelin water. ViSTa phase may potentially provide sensitivity to demyelination.