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 (T 1 and T 2 ), proton density (PD), and off‐resonance (ΔB 0 ), 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 T 1 , T 2 , and ΔB 0 estimates, as well as single‐slice TESS measurements. Results For R = 2, the quantification of T 1 , T 2 , PD, and ΔB 0 was overall reliable with marginal noise enhancement. T 1 and T 2 values were in good agreement with the reference measurements and single‐slice TESS. For R = 4, the agreement of ΔB 0 with the standard reference was excellent and the determination of T 1 , T 2 , and PD was reproducible; however, increased variations in T 1 and T 2 values with respect to single‐slice TESS were observed. Conclusion SMS‐TESS has shown potential to offer rapid simultaneous T 1 , T 2 , PD, and ΔB 0 mapping of human brain tissues.