Incidental magnetization transfer effects in multislice brain MRI at 3.0T

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of incidental magnetization transfer (iMT) in multislice brain imaging at 3.0T.

Materials and methods: The contribution of iMT to multislice brain MRI was evaluated at 3.0T. In 10 normal subjects we obtained multislice fast spin-echo (FSE) MR images using a 16-echo pulse train without an off-resonance MT pulse at 3.0T and 1.5T. We quantified the extent of iMT by calculating the iMT ratio (iMTR).

Results: We found that the iMT contrast (iMTC) has a greater effect at 3.0T. As the number of slices increased in multislice FSE imaging, the difference between two field strengths became larger. Compared to WM structures, however, the difference in iMT effect between 1.5T and 3.0T was smaller in the case of GM structures.

Conclusion: The iMTC has a greater effect at 3.0T. The strength of the iMT is different for different tissue types and also varies according to the number of slices used.