T1-weighting in Steady-State FLASH MRI-Diffusion Is Not Only Supportive but Mandatory for the Contrast

FLASH imaging is widely assumed to produce a T₁-weighted steady-state contrast using RF- and gradient-spoiling. We observed substantial overestimation of CSF signals in simulations, when diffusion was neglected and realistic proton density was applied. This work investigates the role of diffusion in steady-state FLASH contrast formation and its implications for simulation-based modeling and measurement.

FLASH sequences were simulated using phase graph simulations using a synthetic brain phantom with and without diffusion and realistic PD values to show the contrast change. The impact of neglecting diffusion in synthetic training data was evaluated using a segmentation network trained on simulated data and tested on in vivo measurement. Experimental validation of the contrast change was performed using a 3D-printed brain phantom using silicone oil as a low-diffusivity compartment.

Without diffusion, simulations showed CSF signal intensities higher than WM, resulting in a contrast change. Diffusion suppresses higher-order echoes in long T₂ tissues and is essential for achieving the T₁-weighted steady-state contrast. A NN trained without diffusion fails to generalize to in vivo data and measurements with silicone oil compartments confirm the contrast changes in low-diffusivity media.

Diffusion is essential for realistic FLASH simulations of long T₂ tissues such as CSF. Steady-state FLASH contrast arises from the interplay of RF-, gradient-spoiling, and "multi-TR-relaxation-spoiling" governed by T₂-decay and diffusion effects. For many quadratic phase cycling schemes, diffusion is required to obtain realistic T₁-weighted contrast in MR simulations and should not be neglected in simulations or simulation-based deep learning applications.