Augmented T-1-weighted steady state magnetic resonance imaging

T-1 contrasts obtained using short-TR incoherent steady state gradient echo (GRE) methods are generally suboptimal, to which non-T-1 factors in the signals play a major part. In this work, we proposed an augmented T-1-weighted (aT(1)W) method to extract the signal ratio between routine GRE T1W and proton density-weighted signals that effectively removes the non-T-1 effects from the original T1W signals, including proton density, T-2* decay, and coil sensitivity. A recently proposed multidimensional integration (MDI) technique was incorporated in the aT(1)W calculation for better signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) performance. For comparison between aT(1)W and T1W results, Monte Carlo noise analysis was performed via simulation and on scanned data, and region-of-interest (ROI) analysis and comparison was performed on the system phantom. For brain scans, the image contrast, noise behavior, and SNR of aT(1)W images were compared with routine GRE and inversion-recovery-based T1W images. The proposed aT(1)W method yielded saliently improved T-1 contrasts (potentially > 30% higher contrast-to-noise ratio [CNR]) than routine GRE T1W images. Good spatial homogeneity and signal consistency as well as high SNR/CNR were achieved in aT(1)W images using the MDI technique. For contrast-enhanced (CE) imaging, aT(1)W offered stronger post-CE contrast and better boundary delineation than T-1 MPRAGE images while using a shorter scan time.