Blood-Suppressed T2* Mapping in Liver with Motion Sensitized Driven Equilibrium (MSDE)

Rexford D. Newbould¹, Giulio Gambarota¹

T2* mapping of the liver can be used to assess iron loading, which is relevant in a number of diseases including thalassemia, hereditary hemochromatosis, and sickle cell disease. However, with no innate flow suppression, multi-echo spoiled gradient echo (SPGR) sequences suffer from artifacts originating from flowing blood spins. This work combines a motion-sensitized driven equilibrium (MSDE) preparation with multi-echo SPGR to suppress the blood signal intensity in breath-hold T2* mapping of the liver. Flow suppression is tested in a healthy volunteer, and T2* maps are acquired in five volunteers.