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Cartesian MPnRAGE for Efficient Simultaneous Multi-Contrast and Quantitative Relaxometry Imaging
Carly A Allen1, Kevin M Johnson1,2, Bernadette T Gillick3,4
1Department of Medical Physics, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Purpose:
T1-weighted images with different weighting and T1 quantification can be useful in the differentiation of both native and pathologic tissue; however, acquiring multiple images requires substantial time. A rapid and robust brain imaging sequence was developed to simultaneously provide quantitative T1 maps and multiple T1-weighted images.
Methods:
A novel 3D Cartesian MPnRAGE sequence was developed that collects multiple frames at different inversion times with an interleaved variable density Poisson sampling. Varying flip angles were used to enable B1 corrected T1 quantification from the multiple frames. Test-retest of quantitative T1 and a comparison between Cartesian MPnRAGE and reference values were performed in a phantom. Cartesian MPnRAGE was then acquired in vivo for five human participants.
Results:
In under 5 min, Cartesian MPnRAGE generated 10 high-quality T1-weighted images of different contrasts across the inversion recovery curve, including white matter nulled, gray matter nulled, and cerebral spinal fluid nulled frames. The 10 inversion times at varying flip angles produced accurate T1 values compared to gold standard T1 fitting, and test-retest scans resulted in low variation. In vivo scan results demonstrate the feasibility of Cartesian MPnRAGE acquisition.
Conclusion:
This work shows the ability of the Cartesian MPnRAGE sequence to provide accurate and efficient whole brain quantitative T1 mapping and multiple image contrasts in a reasonable acquisition time, offering an alternative acquisition strategy to existing approaches.
