Spin-spin relaxation time or T2 is an important parameter in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) which provides information on molecular structure inside tissues, properties of human tissues and metabolites inside human body. It also contributes to clinical study by providing more information on pathological properties and delineation between healthy and malignant tissues in brain pathologies and identification of tissue abnormalities. In this study, T2 measurement was performed by acquiring T2 images of agarose hydrogel. T2-weighted imaging sequence was used with variation of agarose concentration, echo-time and repetition time. The signal intensities of samples were acquired and fitted to echo-time to obtain T2-value. In addition, contrast agent of CuSO4 was mixed with agarose solution and the similar T2 measurement was performed with variation concentration of agarose and CuSO4. Although some limitations were found during T2 measurement due to acquisition and instrumental setting, T2 quantification could provide more information about properties inside samples. The quantification could also be used for measurement of the effectiveness of contrast agent for increasing image contrast in MRI scanning.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is one of the reliable instruments in medical physics for diagnostic and treatment monitoring. In MRI scanning, data were acquired using several techniques depending on the parameters being measured. Several quantitative MRI methods were conducted to obtain values of some parameters in MRI, such as spin-spin relaxation time or T2. T2-value was generally obtained using spin-echo sequence and the recent development used multiple spin-echo sequence to significantly reduce acquisition time. The quantification of T2 is achieved by exponential fitting of echo-time with signal intensity. Although the quantification is quite straightforward, some distortion and errors were found during quantification process due to several factors. In this study T2 quantification of agar with various concentrations was conducted and the study was focused on the processing method for T2 quantification. The fitting methods based on mono-exponential and bi-exponential models would be applied and the results would be compared to find the best method for quantitative T2 MRI of gel phantom. The method would also be applied in agar phantom with addition of CuSO4 contrast agent to observe the effect of contrast agent on T2-value.
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