Gisela E Hagberg1,2, Jonas Bause1, Thomas Ethofer2,3, Philipp Ehses1, Thomas Dresler3, G Shajan1, Rolf Pohmann1, Cornelia Herbert3, Andreas Fallgatter3, Christoph Laske3, Marina Pavlova2, and Klaus Scheffler1,2
1High Field Magnetic Resonance, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 2Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, 3General Psychiatry&Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Accurate and precise determination of T1 values is of central importance in clinical studies and for
tissue segmentation based on the myeloarchitecture that transcends T1. Here we
investigate whether well-described age-dependent changes can be detected by
high field T1 relaxometry, and how different transmit field correction methods
influence the results. We found that the intrinsic bias correction of the
MP2RAGE technique is not sufficient to achieve reliable quantification of T1 at
ultra high magnetic fields. But, provided that a correction for transmit field inhomogeneity
is performed, T1 maps that consistently reveal age-related changes can be
generated. The technique holds promise for investigation of local
myeloarchitectonics for neuroscientific and clinical studies.