Published in:
Open Access 01-06-2018 | Research Article
T 2 mapping of cerebrospinal fluid: 3 T versus 7 T
Published in: Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine | Issue 3/2018
Login to get accessAbstract
Object
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) T
2 mapping can potentially be used to investigate CSF composition. A previously proposed CSF T
2–mapping method reported a T
2 difference between peripheral and ventricular CSF, and suggested that this reflected different CSF compositions. We studied the performance of this method at 7 T and evaluated the influence of partial volume and B
1 and B
0 inhomogeneity.
Materials and methods
T
2-preparation-based CSF T
2-mapping was performed in seven healthy volunteers at 7 and 3 T, and was compared with a single echo spin-echo sequence with various echo times. The influence of partial volume was assessed by our analyzing the longest echo times only. B
1 and B
0 maps were acquired. B
1 and B
0 dependency of the sequences was tested with a phantom.
Results
T
2,CSF was shorter at 7 T compared with 3 T. At 3 T, but not at 7 T, peripheral T
2,CSF was significantly shorter than ventricular T
2,CSF. Partial volume contributed to this T
2 difference, but could not fully explain it. B
1 and B
0 inhomogeneity had only a very limited effect. T
2,CSF did not depend on the voxel size, probably because of the used method to select of the regions of interest.
Conclusion
CSF T
2 mapping is feasible at 7 T. The shorter peripheral T
2,CSF is likely a combined effect of partial volume and CSF composition.