title: Optimizing MR Scan Design for Model-Based ${T}_{1}$ , ${T}_{2}$ Estimation From Steady-State Sequences.
abstract: Rapid, reliable quantification of MR relaxation parameters T1and T2is desirable for many clinical applications. Steady-state sequences such as Spoiled Gradient-Recalled Echo (SPGR) and Dual-Echo Steady-State (DESS) are fast and well-suited for relaxometry because the signals they produce are quite sensitive to T1and T2variation. However, T1, T2estimation with these sequences typically requires multiple scans with varied sets of acquisition parameters. This paper describes a systematic framework for selecting scan types (e.g., combinations of SPGR and DESS scans) and optimizing their respective parameters (e.g., flip angles and repetition times). The method is based on a Cramér-Rao Bound (CRB)-inspired min-max optimization that finds scan parameter combinations that robustly enable precise object parameter estimation. We apply this technique to optimize combinations of SPGR and DESS scans for T1, T2relaxometry in white matter (WM) and grey matter (GM) regions of the human brain at 3T field strength. Phantom accuracy experiments show that SPGR/DESS scan combinations are in excellent agreement with reference measurements. Phantom precision experiments show that trends in T1,T2pooled sample standard deviations reflect CRB-based predictions. In vivo experiments show that in WM and GM, T1and T2estimates from a pair of optimized DESS scans exhibit precision (but not necessarily accuracy) comparable to that of optimized combinations of SPGR and DESS scans. To our knowledge, T1maps from DESS acquisitions alone are new. This example application illustrates that scan optimization may help reveal new parameter mapping techniques from combinations of established pulse sequences.
authors.forename: Gopal
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nataraj
authors.forename: Jon-Fredrik
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: Jeffrey A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Fessler
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging