Influence of contrast-dependent T2* effects on DCE-MRI of the prostate at 7T

INTRODUCTION: The desire to perform DCE-MRI studies at ever increasing magnetic fields comes from the promise of increased spatial and temporal resolution. However, to effectively use DCE-MRI at high fields, the increasing influence of T2* on the typically T1-weighted acquisition must be understood to avoid misinterpretation of results. While R1 relaxivity has been shown to slightly decrease [6], R2* relaxivity increases with field strength and can dominate signal changes especially at higher contrast agent concentrations. In addition, the strong effect of compartmentalization on T2* shortening can also change the shape of the contrast enhancement curve and thus the quantification of pharmacokinetic parameters. The goal of this paper was to investigate the influence of T2* shortening on contrast enhancement curves at 7T in the prostate and to determine the impact on pharmacokinetic modeling.