1Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research (CNIR), Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Suwon, Korea, Republic of, 2Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Korea, Republic of, 3Department of Biomedical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea, Republic of
CEST MRI is an indirect molecular
imaging technique, in which a small molecular signal is amplified by chemical
exchange phenomenon. Multiple acquisition of imaging data with varying
saturation frequencies, called z-spectrum acquisition, is typically performed, and then subtraction-based MTR asymmetry analysis is employed to
investigate the effect of CEST on MRI. However, since the z-spectrum is
additionally convoluted by inherent asymmetric MT, NOE, etc, conventional asymmetry analysis is prone to substantial
errors. To tackle these problems, in this work we introduce a new, model-based
extraction method of the z-spectrum asymmetry using symmetric basis (EASY) to
directly characterize the signal sources of the asymmetric z-spectrum.
