Water proton T1 measurements in brain tissue at 7, 3, and 1.5T using IR-EPI, IR-TSE, and MPRAGE: results and optimization

MethodThis 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 7T. 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.ResultsIn four subjects the T1 of white and grey matter were found to be 646±32 and 1,197±134ms at 1.5T, 838±50 and 1,607±112ms at 3T, and 1,126±97, and 1,939±149ms at 7T with the MPRAGE sequence. The T1 of the putamen was found to be 1,084±63ms at 1.5T, 1,332±68ms at 3T, and 1,644±167ms at 7T. The T1 of the caudate head was found to be 1,109± 66ms at 1.5T, 1,395±49ms at 3T, and 1,684±76ms at 7T.DiscussionThere 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, 5,736ms and TR of 7 s. The optimal pulse sequence for MPRAGE with readout flip angle  = 8° was found to have five readouts at TIs of 160, 398, 988, 2,455, and 6,102ms 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.