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Are mono‐exponential fits to a few echoes sufficient to determine T 2 relaxation for in vivo human brain?
Author(s) -
Whittall Kenneth P.,
MacKay Alex L.,
Li David K.B.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1522-2594(199906)41:6<1255::aid-mrm23>3.0.co;2-i
Subject(s) - exponential function , t2 relaxation , relaxation (psychology) , human brain , echo (communications protocol) , nuclear magnetic resonance , exponential decay , in vivo , exponential growth , physics , mathematics , magnetic resonance imaging , mathematical analysis , neuroscience , nuclear physics , computer science , medicine , biology , radiology , computer network , microbiology and biotechnology
T 2 relaxation decay curves from in vivo human brain tissue are rarely mono‐exponential. Partial volume averaging further reduces the chance of mono‐exponential decay. Moreover, the parameters derived from few‐echo mono‐exponential fits change with the measurement echo times and have the largest possible variance. In this note, multi‐exponential fits to 32‐echo relaxation decay curves from in vivo human brain are used to design simulations (where the truth is known) to demonstrate the pitfalls of few‐echo mono‐exponential interpretations. Magn Reson Med 41:1255–1257, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.