Simultaneous Thermometry and T2 Mapping, to Detect Tissue Damage During Thermal Therapies

Chang-Sheng Mei¹, Cheng-Chieh Cheng¹, ², Lawrence P. Panych¹, Bruno Madore¹

The most widely-accepted way of detecting tissue damage, with MR-guidance, involves calculating the thermal dose (TD) that was delivered. Such calculations require accurate knowledge of the entire thermal history of every piece of tissue throughout the procedure, which may be difficult to obtain especially when motion is present. We propose an approach capable of performing thermometry and T2 mapping at the same time, with the hope that damage-induced T2 changes will prove a valuable complement to TD calculations toward detecting tissue damage, especially when motion might make thermal maps unreliable.