Dependence of the frequency distribution around a vessel on the voxel orientation.

In this work the frequency distribution around a vessel inside a cubic voxel is investigated. Therefore, the frequency distribution is calculated in dependence on the orientation of the voxel according to the external magnetic field. The frequency distribution exhibits an interesting peak structure that cannot be explained by the established Krogh's vessel model. The results were validated with phantom measurements and in vivo measurements that agree very well with the developed theory.

The influence of spatial patterns of capillary networks on transverse relaxation.

Tissue-inherent relaxation parameters offer valuable information about the arrangement of capillaries: in an external field, capillaries act as magnetic perturbers to generate local inhomogeneous fields due to the susceptibility difference of deoxygenated blood and the surrounding tissue. These field inhomogeneities influence the free induction decay in a characteristic way, and, conversely, the above tissue parameters can be recovered by multi-parametric fits of adequate theoretical models to experimentally sampled free induction decays. In this work we study the influence of different spatial patterns of capillary positions on the free induction decay. Starting from the standard single capillary approximation (Krogh cylinder) for a symmetric array of capillaries, the free induction decay is analyzed for increasingly random capillary positions, using a previously described Gibbs point field model. The effects of diffusion are implemented with a flexible and fast random walk simulation. We find that the asymmetric form of the obtained frequency distribution is more robust against variations of capillary radii than against shifts of capillary positions, and further that, for an inclusion of diffusion effects, the single capillary approximation models the uniform alignment of capillaries in the hexagonal lattice to great accuracy. An increase in randomization of capillary positions then leads to a significant change in relaxation times. This effect, however, is found less pronounced than that of changes in the off-resonance field strengths which are controlled by the oxygen extraction fraction, thus indicating that observed changes in BOLD imaging are more likely to be attributed to changes in oxygenation than to capillary alignment.

Fast CPMG-based Bloch-Siegert B(1)+ mapping.

A novel method for B(1)+ mapping based on the Bloch-Siegert (BS) shift was recently presented. This method applies off-resonant pulses before signal acquisition to encode B(1) information into the signal phase. BS-based methods possess significant advantages in measurement time and accuracy compared to magnitude-based B(1)+ methods. This study extends the idea of BS B(1)+ mapping to Carr, Purcell, Meiboom, Gill (CPMG)-based multi-spin-echo (BS-CPMG-MSE) and turbo-spin-echo (BS-CPMG-TSE) imaging. Compared to BS-based spin echo imaging (BS-SE), faster acquisition of the B(1)+ information was possible using the BS-CPMG-TSE sequence. Furthermore, signal loss by T(2)* effects could be minimized using these spin echo-based techniques. These effects are critical for gradient echo-based BS methods at high field strengths. However, multi-spin-echo-based BS B(1) methods inherently possess high specific absorption rates. Thus, the relative specific absorption rate of BS-CPMG-TSE sequences was estimated and compared with the specific absorption rate produced by BS-SE sequences.

Improved encoding strategy for CPMG-based Bloch-Siegert B(1)(+) mapping.

Bloch-Siegert (BS) based B(1)(+) mapping methods use off-resonant pulses to encode quantitative B(1)(+) information into the signal phase. It was recently shown that the principle behind BS-based B(1)(+) mapping can be expanded from spin echo (BS-SE) and gradient-echo (BS-FLASH) based BS B(1)(+) mapping to methods such as Carr, Purcell, Meiboom, Gill (CPMG)-based turbo-spin echo (BS-CPMG-TSE) and multi-spin echo (BS-CPMG-MSE) imaging. If CPMG conditions are preserved, BS-CPMG-TSE allows fast acquisition of the B(1)(+) information and BS-CPMG-MSE enables simultaneous mapping of B(1)(+), M(0), and T(2). To date, however, two separate MRI experiments must be performed to enable the calculation of B(1)(+) maps. This study investigated a modified encoding strategy for CPMG BS-based methods to overcome this limitation. By applying a "bipolar" off-resonant BS pulse before the refocusing pulse train, the needed phase information was able to be encoded into different echo images of one echo train. Thus, this technique allowed simultaneous B(1)(+) and T(2) mapping in a single BS-CPMG-MSE experiment. To allow single-shot B(1)(+) mapping, this method was also applied to turbo-spin echo imaging. Furthermore, the presented modification intrinsically minimizes phase-based image artifacts in BS-CPMG-TSE experiments.