Simultaneous multislice triple-echo steady-state (SMS-TESS) T 1 , T 2 , PD, and off-resonance mapping in the human brain.

PURPOSE: To investigate the ability of simultaneous multislice triple-echo steady-state (SMS-TESS) imaging to provide quantitative maps of multiple tissue parameters, i.e., longitudinal and transverse relaxation times (T1 and T2 ), proton density (PD), and off-resonance (ΔB0 ), in the human brain at 3T from a single scan.

METHODS: TESS acquisitions were performed in 2D mode to reduce motion sensitivity and accelerated by an SMS excitation scheme (CAIPIRINHA) with SENSE reconstruction. SMS-acceleration factors (R) of 2 and 4 were evaluated. The in vitro and in vivo validation process included standard reference scans to analyze the accuracy of T1 , T2 , and ΔB0 estimates, as well as single-slice TESS measurements.

RESULTS: For R = 2, the quantification of T1 , T2 , PD, and ΔB0 was overall reliable with marginal noise enhancement. T1 and T2 values were in good agreement with the reference measurements and single-slice TESS. For R = 4, the agreement of ΔB0 with the standard reference was excellent and the determination of T1 , T2 , and PD was reproducible; however, increased variations in T1 and T2 values with respect to single-slice TESS were observed.

CONCLUSION: SMS-TESS has shown potential to offer rapid simultaneous T1 , T2 , PD, and ΔB0 mapping of human brain tissues.