Carl Siversson1, Carl-Johan Tiderius2, Leif Dahlberg2, Jonas Svensson1
1Department of Radiation Physics, Lund University, Malmo, Sweden; 2Department of Orthopaedics, Lund University, Malmo, Sweden
3D Look-Locker (LL) can be used for various T1 quantification applications, such as delayed Gadolinium enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC). The LL method is however usually dependent on both the excitation- and inversion pulse performing well in order to generate reliable T1 values. By introducing an additional very quick (45 seconds) spoiled Gradient Echo sequence it is however possible to map both the B1 field and the inversion quality and compensate for any fluctuations. With this method T1 is measured very accurately, throughout all slices, both in gel phantoms and in in vivo dGEMRIC measurements.