Abstract #0505

Simultaneous estimation of reversible and irreversible transverse relaxation rates in the basal ganglia at 7T: implications for brain iron deposition studies

Mukund Balasubramanian^1,2, Jonathan R. Polimeni^2,3, and Robert V. Mulkern^1,2

¹Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States, ²Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States, ³Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States

Reversible and irreversible transverse relaxation rates were measured at 7T, using the GESSE pulse sequence, in basal ganglia structures in 11 volunteers (ages: 23-81 years). We found that, with a judicious choice of echo times, irreversible rates (R₂) in the globus pallidus were conspicuous for all subjects. Furthermore, both reversible and irreversible rates increased with age in a manner consistent with prior postmortem studies of iron concentration in these structures. Since these rates are differentially affected by field perturbations at different spatial scales, their consideration may provide information about the microscopic and mesoscopic distribution and concentration of iron in tissue.

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