Data-Driven Retrospective Correction of B₁ Field Inhomogeneity in Fast Macromolecular Proton Fraction and R₁ Mapping

Correction of B₁ field non-uniformity is critical for many quantitative MRI methods including variable flip angle (VFA) T₁ mapping and single-point macromolecular proton fraction (MPF) mapping. The latter method showed promising results as a fast and robust quantitative myelin imaging approach and involves VFA-based R₁=1/T₁ map reconstruction as an intermediate processing step. The need for B₁ correction restricts applications of the above methods, since B₁ mapping sequences increase the examination time and are not commonly available in clinics. A new algorithm was developed to enable retrospective data-driven simultaneous B₁ correction in VFA R₁ and single-point MPF mapping. The principle of the algorithm is based on different mathematical dependences of B₁ -related errors in R₁ and MPF allowing extraction of a surrogate B₁ field map from uncorrected R₁ and MPF maps. To validate the method, whole-brain R₁ and MPF maps with isotropic 1.25 mm³ resolution were obtained on a 3 T MRI scanner from 11 volunteers. Mean parameter values in segmented brain tissues were compared between three reconstruction options including the absence of correction, actual B₁ correction, and surrogate B₁ correction. Surrogate B₁ maps closely reproduced actual patterns of B₁ inhomogeneity. Without correction, B₁ non-uniformity caused highly significant biases in R₁ and MPF ( ). Surrogate B₁ field correction reduced the biases in both R₁ and MPF to a non-significant level ( 0.1 ≤ P ≤ 0.8 ). The described algorithm obviates the use of dedicated B₁ mapping sequences in fast single-point MPF mapping and provides an alternative solution for correction of B₁ non-uniformities in VFA R₁ mapping.