Water proton T 1 measurements in brain tissue at 7, 3, and 1.5T using IR-EPI, IR-TSE, and MPRAGE: results and optimization

Abstract

This paper presents methods of measuring the longitudinal relaxation time using inversion recovery turbo spin echo (IR-TSE) and magnetization-prepared rapid gradient echo (MPRAGE) sequences, comparing and optimizing these sequences, reporting T1 values for water protons measured from brain tissue at 1.5, 3, and 7 T. T1 was measured in cortical grey matter and white matter using the IR-TSE, MPRAGE, and inversion recovery echo planar imaging (IR-EPI) pulse sequences. In four subjects the T1 of white and grey matter were found to be 646+/-32 and 1,197+/-134 ms at 1.5 T, 838+/-50 and 1,607+/-112 ms at 3T, and 1,126+/-97, and 1,939+/-149 ms at 7 T with the MPRAGE sequence. The T1 of the putamen was found to be 1,084+/-63 ms at 1.5 T, 1,332+/-68 ms at 3T, and 1,644+/-167 ms at 7 T. The T1 of the caudate head was found to be 1,109+/- 66 ms at 1.5 T, 1,395+/-49 ms at 3T, and 1,684+/-76 ms at 7 T. There was a trend for the IR-TSE sequence to underestimate T1 in vivo. The sequence parameters for the IR-TSE and MPRAGE sequences were also optimized in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the fitted T1. The optimal sequence for IR-TSE in terms of SNR in the fitted T1 was found to have five readouts at TIs of 120, 260, 563, 1,221, 2,647, 5,736 ms and TR of 7 s. The optimal pulse sequence for MPRAGE with readout flip angle = 8 degrees was found to have five readouts at TIs of 160, 398, 988, 2,455, and 6,102 ms and a TR of 9 s. Further optimization including the readout flip angle suggests that the flip angle should be increased, beyond levels that are acceptable in terms of power deposition and point-spread function.