Investigation of inter-slice magnetization transfer effects as a new method for MTR imaging of the human brain

PLoS One. 2015 Feb 9;10(2):e0117101. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0117101. eCollection 2015.

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Brain / physiology*
  • Diagnostic Imaging / methods*
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Magnets
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Young Adult

Associated data

  • figshare/10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.1281061

Grants and funding

This study was supported by a grant from National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2013R1A1A1061759) and a grant from Competitive Medical Research Fund of the UPMC Health System. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.