Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 27, 2025
Standardized Data Acquisition for Neuromelanin-Sensitive Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Substantia Nigra
Published on: September 8, 2021
Acceleration of neuromelanin-sensitive MRI sequences in the substantia nigra using standard MRI options
Marieke van der Pluijm1,2, Elon D Wallert3, Bram F Coolen4
1Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. m.vanderpluijm@amsterdamumc.nl.
Purpose:
Neuromelanin MRI (NM-MRI) is applied as a proxy measurement of dopaminergic functioning of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SN). To increase its clinical applicability, a fast and easily applicable NM-MRI sequence is needed. This study therefore compared accelerated NM-MRI sequences using standard available MRI options with a validated 2D gradient recalled echo NM-MRI sequence with off-resonance magnetization transfer (MT) pulse (2D-MToffRes).
Methods:
We used different combinations of compressed sense (CS) acceleration, repetition times (TR), and MT pulse to accelerate the validated 2D-MToffRes. In addition, we compared a recently introduced 3D sequence with the 2D-MToffRes.
Results:
Our results show that the 2D sequences perform best with good to excellent reliability. Only excellent intraclass correlation coefficients were found for the CS factor 2 sequences.
Conclusion:
We conclude that there are several reliable approaches to accelerate NM-MRI, in particular by using CS.
