Superior sagittal sinus venous oxygen saturation based on fully automated MR susceptometry : effects of slice dependent even-odd echo discrepancy and vascular angle correction

Venous oxygen saturation (SvO₂) for estimation of global cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen is measured using MR susceptometry from the phase information obtained with multi-echo gradient-echo imaging. Automatic selection and segmentation of the superior sagittal sinus is performed with slice dependent even-odd discrepancy to avoid operator dependency. Results from 12 healthy subjects suggested that phase values of the vessel showing minimal even-odd echo discrepancy could be used as a useful information guiding selection of the appropriate vessel segment for SvO₂ estimations by taking into consideration the three dimensional vasculature.