Christian Langkammer1,2, Thomas Seifert-Held1, Michaela Soellinger1, Christian Enzinger1, Franz Fazekas1, Rudolf Stollberger2, Stefan Ropele1
1Department of Neurology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria; 2Institute of Medical Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria
Using a ferritin phantom mimicking the composition of brain gray matter, we investigated the effect of iron load on the saturation line shape of water. Z-spectra were acquired under different saturation conditions by use of spoiled FLASH sequences with spectral presaturation. We observed a linear correlation between the maximum saturation effect (i.e., the direct saturation ratio) and iron concentration. Magnetization transfer and global susceptibility effects did not affect this relationship, favoring the use of this method for in vivo measurements of the iron content.