Confounder-corrected T₁ mapping in the liver through simultaneous estimation of T₁ , PDFF, , and in a single...

Quantitative volumetric T₁ mapping in the liver has the potential to aid in the detection, diagnosis, and quantification of liver fibrosis, inflammation, and spatially resolved liver function. However, accurate measurement of hepatic T₁ is confounded by the presence of fat and inhomogeneous $$ excitation. Furthermore, scan time constraints related to respiratory motion require tradeoffs of reduced volumetric coverage and/or increased acquisition time. This work presents a novel 3D acquisition and estimation method for confounder-corrected T₁ measurement over the entire liver within a single breath-hold through simultaneous estimation of T₁ , fat and $$ .

The proposed method combines chemical shift encoded MRI and variable flip angle MRI with a $$ mapping technique to enable confounder-corrected T₁ mapping. The method was evaluated theoretically and demonstrated in both phantom and in vivo acquisitions at 1.5 and 3.0T. At 1.5T, the method was evaluated both pre- and post- contrast enhancement in healthy volunteers.

The proposed method demonstrated excellent linear agreement with reference inversion-recovery spin-echo based T₁ in phantom acquisitions at both 1.5 and 3.0T, with minimal bias (5.2 and 45 ms, respectively) over T₁ ranging from 200-1200 ms. In vivo results were in general agreement with reference saturation-recovery based 2D T₁ maps (SMART₁ Map, GE Healthcare).

The proposed 3D T₁ mapping method accounts for fat and $$ confounders through simultaneous estimation of T₁ , $$ , PDFF and $$ . It demonstrates strong linear agreement with reference T₁ measurements, with low bias and high precision, and can achieve full liver coverage in a single breath-hold.