Mitigating slice cross-talk in multi-slice multi-echo spin echo T₂ mapping

Purpose: To investigate whether a T-2 inter-slice variation could occur when a multi-slice multi-echo spin echo (MESE) sequence is used for image acquisition and to propose an enhanced method for reconstructing T-2 maps that can effectively address and correct these variations.Methods: Bloch simulations were performed accounting for the direct saturation effect to evaluate magnetization changes in multi-slice 2D MESE sequence. Experimental phantom scans were performed to validate these simulations. An improved version of the dictionary-based reconstruction approach was proposed, enabling the creation of a multi-slice dictionary of echo modulation curves (EMC). The corresponding method has been assayed considering inter-slice T-2 variation with phantoms and in lower leg.Results: Experimental and numerical study illustrate that direct saturation leads to a bias of EMCs. This bias during the T-2 maps reconstructions using original single-slice EMC-dictionary method led to inter-slice T-2 variation of 2.03% in average coefficient of variation (CV) in agarose phantoms, and up to 2.8% in vivo (for TR = 2 s, slice gap = 0%). A reduction of CV was observed when increasing the gap up to 100% (0.36% in phantoms, and up to 1.5% in vivo) or increasing TR up to 4 s (0.76% in phantoms, and up to 1.9% in vivo). Matching the multi-slice experimental data with multi-slice dictionaries provided a reduced CV of 0.54% in phantoms and up to 2.3% in vivo.Conclusion: T-2 values quantified from multi-slice MESE images using single-slice dictionaries are biased. A dedicated multi-slice EMC method providing the appropriate dictionaries can reduce the inter-slice T-2 variation.