Rapid acquisition transverse relaxometric imaging

Segmented echo-planar acquisitions have been incorporated into a multiecho imaging sequence to produce a MRI method for rapid transverse relaxometry. The method is demonstrated on gel phantoms and rat brain and found to produce unbiased estimates of T-2. Gradient performance can be a limiting factor for the implementation of this technique and there is a cost in signal-to-noise ratio resulting from the higher bandwidth required, as is typical for echo-planar acquisitions. (C) 2000 Academic Press.