Transverse Relaxation Time (T2) Measurements of the Human Thigh Muscles at High Magnetic Field Using Segmented Echo-Planar Imaging.

Guillaume Duhamel¹, Marc Jubeau¹, ², Michal Sdika¹, Yann Le Fur¹, Sylviane Confort-Gouny¹, Christophe Vilmen¹, Alexandre Vignaud³, Patrick J. Cozzone¹, Julien Gondin¹, David Bendahan¹

Transverse relaxation time is a relevant parameter used to distinguish activated from non activated muscles as a result of exercise. Widely used CPMG-based sequences suffered from long acquisition time and B1 inhomogeneities sensitivity, especially at high field. We propose a very simple multislice approach based on segmented echo-planar imaging to rapidly and accurately measure muscle T2 values at 3T. The proposed technique was first validated on a phantom study and then applied for in vivo T2 measurements in exercising muscle.