Evaluation of the partial flip angle spin echo method to improve non-uniformity in T1-weighted imaging with the 3-tesla MRI

1. ABSTRACT The higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (3T MRI) contributes to an improvement in the spatial and temporal resolution. However, T1-weighted images of the brain obtained by the spin-echo (SE) method using 3T MRI are unsuitable for clinical use because of the inhomogeneity of the radio frequency (RF) field B1 non-uniformity. And it is clear by SE method. In addition, the prolongation of the longitudinal relaxation time (T1) of most tissues leads to a decrease in the Tl contrast. Therefore, many hospitals that utilize 3TMRI use the GRE method instead of the SE method in order to obtain an adequate T1 contrast, as can be obtained using FLASH (fast low angle shot), and high uniformity of images. Further, many studies have been performed to improve the non uniformity using techniques such as spatial presaturation 1) . However, when filters are used, the high intensity of the influence in susceptible regions, signal deficits, and original contrast are lost, and a distortion can be clearly observed when the GRE method is used. Therefore, we obtained the T1-weighted images by using the partial flip angle SE method instead of the GRE method or SE method 2)3) . We attempted to improve the image non-uniformity by using the partial flip angle SE method. Using this method, we could improve the image uniformity and also realize an adequate Tl contrast. As a result, the uniformity was found to improve by 6% and it became 82.6% at 110°. These results indicate that the use of the partial flip angle SE method is effective for obtaining adequate uniformity in the Tl-weighted images of the brain.