A method for fast multislice T1 measurement: Feasibility studies on phantoms, young children, and children with Canavan's disease

We have developed a multislice protocol for quantitative T1 measurements in which the processing time and the acqusition time are under 2 minutes each for a complete brain study of 15 slices. An echoplanar, inversion-recovery image sequence is designed to collect data suitable for analysis using a l inear regression algorithm. The precision is approximately twice the noise to signal ratio of the images. The accuracy of the protocol is better than 1% for T1 in the range 0-2 seconds and deviates slightly for longer T1 valu es. The protocol is insensitive to B1 held values. If needed, the data can be postprocessed using a slow, nonlinear algorithm to give an accuracy of l ess than 1% and a precision of approximately the noise to signal ratio thro ughout a range of T1 values from 0 to 4 seconds. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.