Philipp Mrchel1, Gerd Melkus1, Michael Flentje2, Peter Michael Jakob1,3
1Experimental Physics 5, University of Wrzburg, Wrzburg, Bavaria, Germany; 2Radiation Oncology, University of Wrzburg, Wrzburg, Bavaria, Germany; 3Research Center for Magnetic Resonance Bavaria (MRB), Wrzburg, Bavaria, Germany
A robust method for the simultaneous measurement of T1 and T2* relaxation maps without the need for B1 field corrections based on a modified inversion recovery snapshot FLASH sequence is presented. This method allows for the simultaneous acquisition of T1 and T2* in the time a single T1 measurement using an inversion recovery method would take. Furthermore this sequence is not prone to motion and misregistration artifacts which occur on subsequent measurement of these relaxation parameters. The applicability of this sequence was confirmed using measurements on several phantoms and in vivo.