Ultrashort TE (UTE) imaging and T2 quantification of short T2 components in brain white matter

摘要: White matter in the brain has long T2 components which are typically imaged using conventional magnetic resonance imaging techniques (143). However, a wide range of short T2 values have also been reported, ranging from 8 ms down to 200 μs (1, 2). Here we implemented an ultrashort TE (UTE) sequence to image the short T2 components in brain white matter at 3T. The UTE sequence can achieve a short TE of 8 μs by combining half pulse excitation, radial ramp sampling and fast transmit/receiver switching (4). Long T2 signals were suppressed using a long adiabatic inversion pulse, as well as dual echo subtraction. T2 of the short T2 components was measured at 3T.