Water diffusion and T2 quantification in transient-state MRI: the effect of RF pulse sequence

Abstract

In quantitative measurement of the (Formula presented.) value of tissues, the diffusion of water molecules has been recognized as a confounder. This is most notably so for transient-state quantitative mapping techniques, which allow simultaneous estimation of (Formula presented.) and (Formula presented.). In prior work, apparently conflicting conclusions are presented on the level of diffusion-induced bias on the T2 estimate. So far there is a lack of studies on the effect of the RF pulse angle sequence on the level of diffusion-induced bias. In this work, we show that the specific transient-state RF pulse sequence has a large effect on this level of bias. In particular, the bias level is strongly influenced by the mean value of the RF pulse angles. Also, for realistic values of the spoiling gradient area, we infer that the diffusion-induced bias is negligible for non-liquid human tissues; yet, for phantoms, the effect can be substantial (15% of the true (Formula presented.) value) for some RF pulse sequences. This should be taken into account in validation procedures.