Abstract
Transverse relaxation in the rotating frame [T2ρ) is the dominant relaxation mechanism during an adiabatic Carr-Purcell (CP) spin-echo pulse sequence when no delays are used between pulses in the CP train. The exchange-induced and dipolar interaction contributions (T2ρ,ex and T2ρ,dd) depend on the modulation functions of the adiabatic pulses used. In this work adiabatic pulses having different modulation functions were utilized to generate T2ρ contrast in images of the human occipital lobe at magnetic field of 4 T. T2ρ time constants were measured using an adiabatic CP pulse sequence followed by an imaging readout. For these measurements, adiabatic full passage pulses of the hyperbolic secant HSn (n = 1 or 4) family having significantly different amplitude-and frequency-modulation functions were used with no time delays between pulses. A dynamic averaging (DA) mechanism (e.g., chemical exchange and diffusion in the locally different magnetic susceptibilities) alone was insufficient to fully describe differences in brain tissue water proton T2ρ time constants. Measurements of the apparent relaxation time constants (T 2†) of brain tissue water as a function of the time between centers of pulses (τcp) at 4 and 7 T permitted separation of the DA contribution from that of dipolar relaxation. The methods presented assess T2ρ relaxation influenced by DA in tissue and provide a means to generate T2ρ contrast in MRI.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 823-829 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Magnetic Resonance in Medicine |
Volume | 53 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2005 |
Keywords
- Adiabatic pulses
- Carr-Purcell (CP)
- Relaxation
- T contrast
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging