Abstract #0560

Improving Contrast of Delta Relaxation Enhanced MR (DreMR) Imaging

Francisco M. Martinez-Santiesteban¹, Yonathan Araya², Chad Harris³, William B. Handler³, Blaine A. Chronik⁴,⁵, Timothy J. Scholl²,⁵

¹Medical Biophysics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario , Canada; ²Medical Biophysics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; ³Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; ⁴Physics and Astronomy, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada; ⁵Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada

Delta relaxation enhanced MR (dreMR) uses the change in relaxation rate of molecular probes, at different magnetic fields, as a source of contrast. This contrast is normally obtained subtracting magnitude MR images acquired at two different magnetic fields, and is highly susceptible to motion, edge artefacts, Eddy Currents, and magnetic field variations in B₀ or B₁. The proposed method reduces these problems and improves dreMR contrast by compensating phase differences between the source images and performing a complex subtraction.