The method for quantitative magnetic resonance imaging of agar phantom with contrast agent

Abstract

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is one of the reliable instruments in medical physics for diagnostic and treatment monitoring. In MRI scanning, data were acquired using several techniques depending on the parameters being measured. Several quantitative MRI methods were conducted to obtain values of some parameters in MRI, such as spin-spin relaxation time or T2. T2-value was generally obtained using spin-echo sequence and the recent development used multiple spin-echo sequence to significantly reduce acquisition time. The quantification of T2 is achieved by exponential fitting of echo-time with signal intensity. Although the quantification is quite straightforward, some distortion and errors were found during quantification process due to several factors. In this study T2 quantification of agar with various concentrations was conducted and the study was focused on the processing method for T2 quantification. The fitting methods based on mono-exponential and bi-exponential models would be applied and the results would be compared to find the best method for quantitative T2 MRI of gel phantom. The method would also be applied in agar phantom with addition of CuSO4 contrast agent to observe the effect of contrast agent on T2-value.