Bound Pool Fraction & T1,free Quantification by Non-Linear Parameter Identification of Composite Echoes

Bernhard Neumayer¹, Rudolf Stollberger¹

The method of phase acquisition of composite echoes (PACE) is used to additionally quantify BPF by applying a non-linear parameter identification and therefore gaining information on the separate components of the acquired signal. Extrapolation of the stimulated echo component for measurements with T_M>100ms yields S₀/(1+f) which in combination with S₀ acquired using a minimum possible T_M allows for quantification of the bound pool fraction BPF additionally to the T₁ quantification provided by the phase information. The method was validated using BSA phantoms with concentrations ranging from 10 to 30% of BSA to water per weight and provided a linear relationship of BPF and BSA concentration.