Ives R. Levesque1, Nikola Stikov2,
G. Bruce Pike2, John M. Pauly1
1Electrical Engineering, Stanford
University, Stanford, CA, United States; 2Montreal Neurological
Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Drift in the signal of MT-weighted short-TR GRE sequences has been observed in quantitative MT experiments at two different sites. Signal decreases of 2-6% were observed over the course of data acquisitions in phantoms and in vivo. Drift appears to depend on the duration of the acquisition and on the MT pulse characteristics. The drift likely affects QMTI parameter estimates, in a manner dependent on the experimental method. We present our investigation into this effect, and discuss potential causes including B1 drift related to RF amplifier and/or coil performance, and temperature-related T1 increases.