Post-processing correction of magnetization transfer effects in FENSI perfusion MRI data.

ABSTRACT

Magnetization transfer effects induced by repetitive saturation pulses employed in flow enhancement of signal intensity imaging sequences currently prevent quantitative, in vivo, cerebral perfusion studies. This study investigates the magnitude of these effects and introduces a post-processing correction protocol. The study shows that the magnetization transfer effect is consistent across individuals, which enables the derivation of a correction factor to be applied in post-acquisition. Our results, obtained for cerebral flux in white and gray matter in rodent brains, are in agreement with cerebral blood flow measurements previously reported in the literature.