Feasibility of a fast method for B1-inhomogeneity correction for FSPGR sequences

The Fast Spoiled Gradient Echo (FSPGR) sequence is often used in MRI to create T1-weighted images. The signal intensity generated by this sequence depends on the applied flip angle. Knowing the correct flip angle is essential for the determination of T1-maps by means of an FSPGR based Variable Flip Angle (VFA) approach. Also, quantitatively determining the concentration of contrast agent in case of Dynamic Contrast Enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) requires knowledge of the applied flip angle. In both cases, the B1-field (in)homogeneity significantly affects the results. In this paper, we present a new method to obtain both the T1-map and B1-inhomogeneity map using scans that can each be acquired within a breath-hold. We combine two short sequences for T1 quantification: Variable Flip Angle and Look-Locker (LL). The T1-maps obtained from the LL data were used to estimate the B1-inhomogeneity inherently present in the VFA data, which was then used to correct for the VFA method's inaccurate flip angles. This way, a reliable T1-map could be computed, which was validated using both in vitro and in vivo scans. The in vitro results show that the procedure yields a substantially smaller mean deviation in T1 from the T1 measurement's gold standard (the Inversion Recovery method), while the in vivo results show both a more accurate estimation of T1 and a reduction of the influence of the B1-inhomogeneity on the signal intensity.