Purpose: Variable flip angle (VFA)-based T1 quantification techniques are highly sensitive to B1 inhomogeneities and to residual T2 dependency arising from incomplete spoiling. Here, a rapid spiral VFA acquisition scheme with high spoiling efficiency is proposed for simultaneous whole-brain B1 and T1 mapping.
Methods: VFA acquisitions at 2 different flip angles are performed to quantify T1 using a steady-state prepared spiral 2D multislice spoiled gradient-echo sequence with the acquisition of 10 and 20 spiral interleaves at 1.5T and 3T, respectively. Additionally, parallel imaging acceleration of factor 2 is investigated at 3T. The free induction decay induced by the preparation pulse is sampled by a single-shot spiral readout to quantify B1 .
Results: The in vitro and in vivo validations yielded good agreement between the derived spiral VFA B1 and the acquired reference B1 maps as well as between the B1 -corrected spiral VFA T1 and the reference T1 maps. The spiral VFA acquisitions in the human brain delivered artifact-free B1 and T1 maps and demonstrated high reproducibility at 1.5T and 3T.
Conclusion: Reliable simultaneous spiral VFA B1 and T1 quantification was feasible with acquisition times of <1 min for whole-brain coverage at clinically relevant resolution.
Keywords: B1; T1; spiral trajectories; steady-state preparation; variable flip angle (VFA); whole-brain coverage.
© 2018 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.