title: Investigation of inter-slice magnetization transfer effects as a new method for MTR imaging of the human brain.
abstract: We present a new method for magnetization transfer (MT) ratio imaging in the brain that requires no separate saturation pulse. Interslice MT effects that are inherent to multi-slice balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) imaging were controlled via an interslice delay time to generate MT-weighted (0 s delay) and reference images (5-8 s delay) for MT ratio (MTR) imaging of the brain. The effects of varying flip angle and phase encoding (PE) order were investigated experimentally in normal, healthy subjects. Values of up to ∼50% and ∼40% were observed for white and gray matter MTR. Centric PE showed larger MTR, higher SNR, and better contrast between white and gray matter than linear PE. Simulations of a two-pool model of MT agreed well with in vivo MTR values. Simulations were also used to investigate the effects of varying acquisition parameters, and the effects of varying flip angle, PE steps, and interslice delay are discussed. Lastly, we demonstrated reduced banding with a non-balanced SSFP-FID sequence and showed preliminary results of interslice MTR imaging of meningioma.
authors: Department of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America; Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors: Jeffrey W
authors: JW
authors: Barker
authors: Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea.
authors: Paul Kyu
authors: PK
authors: Han
authors: Department of Radiology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
authors: Seung Hong
authors: SH
authors: Choi
authors: Department of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors: Kyongtae Ty
authors: KT
authors: Bae
authors: Department of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America; Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea.
authors: Sung-Hong
authors: SH
authors: Park
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D059346:Magnets; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D055815:Young Adult