CRITERIA FOR ANALYSIS OF MULTICOMPONENT TISSUE T-2 RELAXATION DATA

Monte Carte simulations were performed to determine whether the multic omponent T-2 distribution of tissue can be estimated accurately from T -2 decay data acquired in vivo, Simulated data were generated for whit e matter, fast twitch muscle, and breast tissue. The signal-to-noise r atio, number of data samples, and minimum echo time were varied from t he experimental conditions currently achievable with MRI to those achi evable for in vitro experiments. Data were fitted by a distribution of T-2 values using the T2NNLS algorithm, and statistics characterizing the estimated T-2 components were determined, Current MRI techniques w ere found to provide conditions insufficient for accurate multicompone nt T-2 analysis on a pixel-by-pixel basis, However, volume localizatio n methods that measure T-2 decay from a large volume of interest have potential for this analysis, These results illustrate a general framew ork for development of new techniques to measure T-2 decay accurately in vivo.