Marshall S. Sussman1, Logi Vidarsson2,
John M. Pauly3, Hai-Ling Margaret Cheng4,5
1Medical Imaging, University Health
Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 2Diagnostic Imaging, The
Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 3Electrical Engineering,
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States; 4Research
Institute & Diagnostic Imaging, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada; 5Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Rapid
T2 mapping is conventionally performed using multi-echo spin-echo imaging.
However, due to errors arising from stimulated echoes and limited
availability, the traditional but much slower single-echo spin-echo approach
is often preferred. In this work, a rapid and accurate T2 mapping method
based on single-echo spin-echo imaging is presented. Acquisition times are
significantly reduced by employing a short repetition time (TR) together with
a constant TR-TE difference to maintain monoexponential decay. Accuracy of
the proposed method is demonstrated in phantom results and in-vivo imaging of
the healthy human knee cartilage and brain.