Consideration of slice profiles in inversion recovery Look–Locker relaxation parameter mapping

PurposeTo include the flip angle distribution caused by the slice profile into the model used for describing the relaxation curves observed in inversion recovery Look–Locker FLASH T1 mapping for a more accurate determination of the relaxation parameters.Materials and methodsFor each inversion time, the flip angle dependent signal of the mono-exponential relaxation model is integrated across the slice profile. The resulting Consideration of Slice Profiles (CSP) relaxation curves are compared to the mono-exponential signal model in numerical simulations as well as in phantom and in-vivo experiments.ResultsAll measured relaxation curves showed systematic deviations from a mono-exponential curve increasing with flip angle and T1 but decreasing with repetition time. Additionally, the accuracy of T1 was found to be largely dependent on the temporal coverage of the relaxation curve. All these systematic errors were largely reduced by the CSP model.ConclusionThe proposed CSP model represents a useful extension of the conventionally used mono-exponential relaxation model. Despite inherent model inaccuracies, the mono-exponential model was found to be sufficient for many T1 mapping situations. However, if only a poor temporal coverage of the relaxation process is achievable or a very precise modeling of the relaxation course is needed as in model-based techniques, the mono-exponential model leads to systematic errors and the CSP model should be used instead.