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In Magnetic resonance in medicine ; h5-index 66.0

PURPOSE : To develop and evaluate a single-shot quantitative MRI technique called GRE-MOLED (gradient-echo multiple overlapping-echo detachment) for rapid T 2 * $$ {T}_2^{\ast } $$ mapping.

METHODS : In GRE-MOLED, multiple echoes with different TEs are generated and captured in a single shot of the k-space through MOLED encoding and EPI readout. A deep neural network, trained by synthetic data, was employed for end-to-end parametric mapping from overlapping-echo signals. GRE-MOLED uses pure GRE acquisition with a single echo train to deliver T 2 * $$ {T}_2^{\ast } $$ maps less than 90 ms per slice. The self-registered B0 information modulated in image phase was utilized for distortion-corrected parametric mapping. The proposed method was evaluated in phantoms, healthy volunteers, and task-based FMRI experiments.

RESULTS : The quantitative results of GRE-MOLED T 2 * $$ {T}_2^{\ast } $$ mapping demonstrated good agreement with those obtained from the multi-echo GRE method (Pearson's correlation coefficient = 0.991 and 0.973 for phantom and in vivo brains, respectively). High intrasubject repeatability (coefficient of variation <1.0%) were also achieved in scan-rescan test. Enabled by deep learning reconstruction, GRE-MOLED showed excellent robustness to geometric distortion, noise, and random subject motion. Compared to the conventional FMRI approach, GRE-MOLED also achieved a higher temporal SNR and BOLD sensitivity in task-based FMRI.

CONCLUSION : GRE-MOLED is a new real-time technique for T 2 * $$ {T}_2^{\ast } $$ quantification with high efficiency and quality, and it has the potential to be a better quantitative BOLD detection method.

Yang Qinqin, Ma Lingceng, Zhou Zihan, Bao Jianfeng, Yang Qizhi, Huang Haitao, Cai Shuhui, He Hongjian, Chen Zhong, Zhong Jianhui, Cai Congbo

2023-Jan-19

\n \n \n \n \n T\n 2\n *\n \n \n \({T}_2^{\\ast }\)\n \n , BOLD FMRI, deep learning, overlapping-echo acquisition, single shot