The Agfa Mayneord lecture: MRI of short and ultrashort T2 and T2* components of tissues, fluids and materials using clinical systems

A variety of techniques are now available to directly or indirectly detect signal from tissues, fluids and materials that have short, ultrashort or supershort T2 or T2* components. There are also methods of developing image contrast between tissues and fluids in the short T2 or T2* range that can provide visualisation of anatomy, which has not been previously seen with MRI. Magnetisation transfer methods can now be applied to previously invisible tissues, providing indirect access to supershort T2 components. Particular methods have been developed to target susceptibility effects and quantify them after correcting for anatomical distortion. Specific methods have also been developed to image the effects of magnetic iron oxide particles with positive contrast. Major advances have been made in techniques designed to correct for loss of signal and gross image distortion near metal. These methods are likely to substantially increase the range of application for MRI. Received 7 April 2011 Revised 29 April 2011 Accepted 30 June 2011 DOI: 10.1259/bjr/74368403 ’ 2011 The British Institute of