JOURNAL OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE t&95- 110 ( 1989)

Calculation of T1, T2, and Proton Spin Density Images

in Nuclear Magnetic ResonanceImaging

JUWHANLIU, ANTTIO.K.NIEMINEN,ANDJACKL.KOENIG*

Department ofMacromolecular Science, Case Western Reserve University, Cjevekmd, Ohio 441&j

Received September 13, 1988; revised February 27, 1989

For nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, the spin-lattice relaxation time T, , the spin-
spin relaxation time Tz , and the spin density images are computed from a series of T, -
and Tz-weighted images on a pixel-by-pixel basis. In the most general case, T, and T2
values are related to the image intensity nonlinearly. This fact together with the large
number of pixels involved renders the computation a time-consuming process. The effect
of pulse profile on the intensity should also be considered. A rapid and stable algorithm
is presented to optimize the computation process based on a detailed analysis of the
intensity expressions. The pulse sequence used is a spin-echo type, and the proposed
method is applicable to any type of pulse profile. A series of images taken at different
repetition times but the same echo time are used to calculate the r, image. Similarly,
images taken at the same repetition time but different echo times are used to compute
the T2 image. Finally these T, and T, images are incorporated in the calculation of the
spin density image. The slice profile function and its derivatives are tabulated by numeri-
cal integration and interpolations are applied when the evaluations are required. Numeri-
cal analyses are given based on the simulations, and experimental results are also
presented. 0 1989 Academic Press, Inc.

Flourishing in the field of medicine, nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI)

is also recognized as an important tool of nonmedical applications, especially in ma-
terials research (I, 2). In the latter case, the problems related to sample movement
are not generally involved, and the imaging time is not a crucial factor shaping the
overall experimental procedure. Thus, one improves the S/N ratio via signal averag-
ing. Moreover, other experimental conditions, typically temperature control, can
readily be applied to the material samples. As a result of a series of efforts to apply
the NMRI technique to the investigation of materials, especially polymers, we report
a systematic approach to extract the relaxation times and the proton spin density
information from NMR images. Although the method is generally applicable to med-
ical as well as nonmedical images, the simulations and experimental results are given
for the latter.
The images produced by NMRI experiments are determined by various factors.
Extrinsic parameters include such operator-controlled parameters as field strengths,
radiofrequency pulses, and pulse-sequence timing. On the other hand, intrinsic pa-
rameters are the proton spin density p, spin-lattice relaxation time Tr, spin-spin

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

95 0022-2364189 $3.00
Copyright 0 1989 by Academic Press, Inc.
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
96 LIU, NIEMINEN, AND KOENIG

relaxation time T2, chemical shift, and flow velocity. The signal intensity is thus a
result of a complex interplay of these various parameters. However, this versatility
can give a lot of information if well controlled and optimized.
In NMRI, the positions of resonating nuclei in a sample are encoded by magnetic
field gradients. As a consequence, the intrinsic parameters are rendered spatially de-
pendent making possible the physical and chemical analysis of the sample in terms
of the local environments that determine these parameters.
In the study of a system in which no flow is involved and the chemical-shift effect
is ignored or eliminated, the material-dependent parameters that need consideration
are the relaxation times T, and T2 and the spin density p. The distribution of signals
of the images can be directly used to investigate the nature of the detected species.
However, information on the intrinsic parameters is important when the absolute
discrimination of the resonating species is pursued and/or when one tries to assign
optimal delay times to a given pulse sequence with a view to obtaining maximum
contrast between the species under consideration. Once the values of T, , T,, and p
are obtained from one experiment, expected images from other experiments with a
different set of operator-controlled parameters and/or with different pulse sequences
can by synthesized (3-7). In this way the experimental design of the imaging experi-
ment is facilitated.
For a given spin-echo or inversion-recovery experiment, a mathematical expres-
sion for the signal intensity as a function of the experimental and intrinsic parameters
can be derived. In the case of multiple-spin-echo and several other modified pulse
sequences (5,8-11) where more than one image is obtained simultaneously, the indi-
vidual image intensities can be defined using suitable physical expressions.
Here, a numerical procedure is applied to fit the experimental intensities to the
appropriate equation on a pixel-by-pixel basis using the experimental parameters as
independent variables. The intrinsic parameters can be obtained by nonlinear least-
squares fittings. An iteration method based on the linearization of the intensity ex-
pressions, that is, the Gauss-Newton method, has been reported ( I I ). It is, however-,
the usual practice in view of speed and efficiency to calculate the T, and the T2 images
separately and then calculate the spin density image from these images and the signal
intensity expression as well as the intensity images ( 12, 13).
T, images can be computed iteratively from images taken at different repetition
times. There have also been efforts to obtain the T, image as well as the T2 and the
spin density images in real time, either by the combined use of saturation-recovery
spin-echo (SE) and inversion-recovery (IR) sequences ( Z2), or by an SE sequence
only ( 14). In these “fast” methods of calculation, TI images are generally obtained
using look-up tables that define the ratio of two signal intensities as a function of T,
Recently a method combining ratios and linear least squares was presented and ap-
plied to the SE -t- IR sequence (15). One of the factors that needs to be considered
when computing the T, images is the effect of slice profile, which can cause systematic
errors of over 50% ( 16).
For the calculation of T2 images, usually the SE type of experiment is adopted, in
which the signal intensity can be approximated or assumed to be an exponentially
decaying function with respect to the spin-echo delay time (TE). Thus a plot of loga-
rithms of the spin echoes vs TE yields the negative reciprocal of T2 as its slope. In th:
 CALCULATION OF NMR IMAGES 97

90'(a) 180' 90’(a)

TE

:!1--.------m:. ',',

signal
ij' FID spin echo

FIG. 1. A pulse sequence for the spin-echo experiment. The pulse angle (Yis introduced to study the slice
profile effect.

case of multislice imaging experiments, the slice profile also affects the estimation of
T2 (17, 18). From the T,, T2, and intensity images, the spin density image is easily
obtained.
In this paper, a procedure for calculating T, , T2, and spin density images from the
images obtained by a spin-echo sequence is presented. Rather than simply using a
minimum data set to save time, an effort is made to increase the accuracy of compu-
tation.

MATHEMATICAL MODELS

One of the spin-echo pulse sequences used in our laboratory is shown in Fig. 1. The
90” and the 180” pulses are selective and nonselective, respectively. The intensities of
the spin-echo signals are given by
s = pe-WT2 { 1 - e-WT, } El1
s = pe-WT2{ 1_ &-(TR-TWWT,
+ e-WT, }, [21
where TR and TE represent the repetition and the spin-echo times, respectively.
Equation [ 1] is the result of neglecting the effect of the 180” pulse on the longitudinal
relaxation process, and Eq. [ 21 is obtained assuming the slice profile is ideal.
A mathematical model for the signal from the selective 90” and the nonselective
180” pulse sequence has been presented (16) under the assumption that the trans-
verse components of magnetization decay completely before the next 90” pulse. Here
98 LIU, NIEMINEN, AND KOENIG

more detailed equations will be given with a view to describe the inhomogeneity
factor as well as the slice profile effect.
The behavior of the magnetization is described by solving the Bloch equations
taking the effect of the selective 90” pulse into consideration. This approach is similar
to the treatments applied to the steady-state free-precession methods ( 19-22). Actu-
ally in these derivations, the transverse relaxation time T2 is implicitly assumed to be
essentially the same as the effective relaxation time T: (23). Introducing the pulse
angle CYfor the 90” pulse to investigate the slice profile effect and solving the Bloch
equations under steady-state conditions, one obtains the following equation for the
transverse component of the magnetization, M,, at the spin echo (see Fig. 1).

where p is the equilibrium magnetization, and F, is the factor due to the imperfect
90” pulse:

- cos a sin aemTRi Tz

1 + cos ae-WT2 + sin N
Fe = sin 2(ye-TRIT2 e-TRIT, + cos ,,--TR!T, .
1+
1 + cos ae-TRIT2
Note that the above equations are not dependent on any specific slice profile. If the
pulse envelope has a distribution, the signal is obtained by integrating M:E over the
slice profile ( 16, 24), i.e.,

where z is the distance from the center of the slice along the direction perpendicular
to the plane of the excited slice. When (Yis 90”, Fa becomes

and the signal for the ideal square pulse is given by

The factor Fgv can be found in an equation derived for two spin echoes (25), aX-
though the sign in front of the exponential terms is different.
To consider the inhomogeneity factor, one may express 1/ T: as (26)
1/T:= l/T,+yAHj2,
where y is the gyromagnetic ratio and AH the field inhomogeneity. In general, L / 7‘:
can be divided into two parts, 1/ T2 + 1/ T2i, where T2i is the time constant governing
the relaxation process due to various kinds of inhomogeneities. While the natural
linewidth 1/ T2 is related to the incoherent processes inherent to the material, 1/ 7”Z,,
is related to the coherent processes which can be eliminated by refocusing (2 7). Now
using a phenomenological description for the spin echo (28), one may show
that the only modification needed of Eqs. [ 31 and [ 61 when the inhomogeneity fac-
tor is to be included is to replace the terms of e-TR’Tz in the factor F;, by
 CALCULATION OF NMR IMAGES 99

e-TR’T2e-1cTR-TE)‘r211fl.Here the exponent IZis 1 when the decay due to the inhomoge-
neity is assumed to produce a Lorentzian line broadening in the frequency domain.
On the other hand, it takes the value of 2 for a Gaussian line broadening.
The equations thus far described may be used without approximation in more
general situations, for example, when T: is comparable with TR in magnitude. Un-
der the usual spin-echo experiment conditions, however, TT is on the order of several
milliseconds and TR is set to a value of an order of several hundred milliseconds to
several seconds. This is illustrated schematically in Fig. 1. Thus the condition T:
4 TR was adopted in this study. In that case, the desired expression for the signal in
Eq. [ 51 is simplified to
s = pe-WT2 { 1 - 2e-(TR-rVT, + e-WT, } SF, [71
where the slice-dependent function SF is given by

SF = +a0 sin ff
s --co 1 + cos (ye-T’R’T1dz-
Equation [ 71 shows the basic model of this study. Note that the same equation can
also be derived simply by ignoring the transverse components of the magnetiza-
tion(l6).

ALGORITHMS TO CALCULATE T, IMAGES

A. Ideal Slice
T, images can be calculated from the images taken at the same TE but different
TRs. In this case, Eq. [ 21 can be rewritten as
S(TRi) = Cf(TRi, k), [81
where C = peeTEIT2 , f( TR, k) = { 1 - 2e-(TR-TE’2)k + epTRk}, k = 1 / T, , and the
index i means the ith image.
Although any nonlinear least-squares method can be used in general, the large
number of pixels in an image (typically 256 X 256 in our laboratory) requires an
efficient algorithm and a method to choose reliable initial estimates for the Tl values.
Initial runs using the widely accepted Levenverg-Marquardt algorithm which is a
modified Gauss-Newton method were not satisfactory, because it took about one
hour in CPU time on a MicroVAX II computer. Rather than using an algorithm
based only on the first derivative information as in the Levenverg-Marquardt
method, algorithms using second derivatives are more efficient. Calculation of the
second derivative is simple for these equations since they are mainly exponential
terms whose derivatives contain the original functions,
The algorithm adopted currently is based on an overrelaxation technique of the
Newton-Raphson method (29). The algorithm treats Eq. [ 81 as if it had only one
parameter k or T, instead of the two parameters C and k. For a given k, C is given
by the least-squares equation:

c = xi St T’;, k)S(TR;)
191
zi [.f(Tk, k)12 .
100 LIU, NIEMINEN, AND KOENIG

The parameter k at the y1th iteration is improved to k* by the formula

k* = k - ( 1 + p)g(k)lg’(k). Il(rl
where
g(k) = d{ C; [S(TRi) - CftTR, k)121
dk

and P is a control parameter to regulate the iteration.

Since the algorithm given above sometimes results in negative k or T, which is not
acceptable, it is modified to start the iteration again with the control parameter reset
when such a situation occurs. Also for initial estimates of T, which are too small,
g(k) and g’(k) tend to become zero. In that case the initial estimates are increased
by a factor of 10.0. With these changes the algorithm converges for a wide range of
initial estimates. For example, a simulation with T, = 1.0 s showed that the same
value is returned for initial estimates ranging from I .O X 1O-5 to 100 s. To further
facilitate the computation, the initial estimates are obtained as follows:

1. Calculate S’ = S,,,,,( 1 - e-l), where S,,,, is the intensity of the image with
longest TR.
2. A time that corresponds to s’ is estimated from the data of signal vs TR by linear
interpolation. This time is the desired initial estimate for T, .

This is simply approximating C by the signal of the most relaxed image since the
signal is equal to C for infinite TR.

B. Slice with Pro&le

The basic algorithm is the same as that presented in the previous subsection, and
the following description is applicable to any type of pulse envelope. A scheme to
approximate the slice-dependent function SF in E@. [ 71 using piecewise polynumials
has been presented (24). In the context of the current algorithm in which evaluation
of the second derivative is required, however, a different approach that involvesdirect
evaluation of the relevant integrations to form integral tables was taken.
Like Eq. [ 81, Eq. [ 7 ] can be recast into the form
S(TR;) = Cf(TRi, k)SF(TR,, k),
where the independent variables of the function SF are explicitly written out for
clarity.
Again one needs to evaluate g(k) and g’(k) to apply the iteration formuia (Eq.
[ lO])and they aregiven by Eq. [ 1 l] but withf( TRi, k) replaced byf(TRi, k)SF(TRj,
k). Actual differentiation shows that g(k) and g’(k) have terms including SF and its
first (SF’) and second (SF “) derivatives with respect to k as well as various exponen-
tials. Here SF’ and SF” are given by
 CALCULATION OF NMR IMAGES 101

SF’(TRi, k) = TRiePTRlkHl(TRi, k)
SF”(TRi, k) = 2TRiCTRikH2(TR;, k) - TRiSF’,
where

The main problem encountered when evaluating SF, SF’, and SF” is that they
involve integrations thus defying the possibility to directly include them in the algo-
rithm. To overcome this difficulty the integral functions SF, H 1, and H2 were evalu-
ated at 500 points of 1 / TRK ( = T, / TR ) ranging from 0.0 to 10.0 using the Romberg
integration method up to a precision of 1.O X lop5 and stored in files. When SF, SF’,
and SF’ must be evaluated, linear interpolation is applied to these discrete integration
tables.

CALCULATION OF T, AND SPIN DENSITY IMAGES

A. T2 Images
A T2 image can be computed from images with one TR and different TEs. In this
case the signal intensity can be represented as
S( TEi) = C’emTEdTz, 1121
where C’ is often called pseudo-density. By taking logarithms of both sides, this rela-
tion is linearized:
log S( TEi) = log C’ - TEi/ T2.
Now T2 can simply be estimated by a linear least-squares method ( 7, 30))

-I/Tz=i{(s VV~)(; wiTEjlOgS’)-(5 WklOgSk)($ WjTEj)},

k=l j=l k=l j=l

where

D = ( g Wk)( 2 WjTEf) - ( 5 WkTEk)2.

k=l j=l k=l

Here N is the number of images involved and Wi is the weight of the ith data. When
no weighting is applied, Wiis constant for all i.

B. Spin Density Images

Since Eq. [ 7 ] can be written as
S(TRi, TEi) = Pf(TRi, TEi),
102 LIU, NIEMINEN, AND KOENIG

TABLE 1
Results of Fitting Using Eq. [ 11;the Signals Are
Generated by F.q. [2] for the Case of Ideal Slice

T, (ms) Calculated Tl (ms) Error(W)

100 117 17
200 230 14
300 341 14
400 452 13
500 563 Ii
600 674 12
700 786 I2
800 900 13
900 1015 13

it is straightforward to calculate the spin density p with known or computed T, and

T2 using following equation similar to Eq. [ 91:

p = C; f(TRi, TEi)S(TRi, TEi)

Ci [f(TR, TEi)l’ ’

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

A. T, Image Calculation
First, signal intensities were generated using Eq. [2] for the ideal slice case. Six
repetition times of 192,292,492,892,1292, and 2058 ms and nine T, values farmi?;i
from 100 to 900 ms were used. TE and T2 were set to 32 and 50 ms, respectively, for
all the simulations. Then the fitting was done using Eq. [ 1] to see the error involved
in this mathematical model. The result is given in Table 1, which shows that system-
atic errors above 10% are introduced in this example, even though no measurement
errors are assumed. As a consequence, the real time and the other techniques that are
based on Eq. [ l] need reevaluation especially when the TE is not negligible compared
with TR.
Next, to simulate the case of a slice with a profile, the signal intensities were gener-
ated using Eq. [ 7 ] for the same set of values of TR and T, as above. Altbougb the
algorithm treats the slice profile as one of the inputs via cr and thus independent of
the choice of the excitation pulse profile, the Gaussian pulse was used to illustrate the
slice profile effect, mainly because it yields a slice profile distinctive from an ideal
square profile. Because the response of the magnetization to a selective pulse is given
by the Fourier transform of the pulse envelope in the time domain as a first approxi-
mation (31), and the FT of a Gaussian function is also a Gaussian, the flip angle N
can be approximated by a Gaussian function with respect to the distance z defined
before: a! = 90” 6”.
Fitting with Eq. [ 71 to check the algorithm returned the desired T1 vaIues within a
precision of 1.O X 10Y4. Then both Eqs. [I] and [ 21 were used in the fitting procedure
 CALCULATION OF NMR IMAGES 103

TABLE 2
Results of Fitting Using Eqs. [I] and [2]; the Signals Are Generated by Eq. [7]
for the Case of Slice with Profile

Eq. 111 Eq. 121

T (ms) Calc. T, (ms) Error(%) Calc. T, (ms) Error (%)

100 133 33 114 14

200 276 38 242 21
300 422 41 373 24
400 571 43 508 27
500 727 45 648 30
600 892 42 793 32
700 1066 52 944 35
800 1250 56 1100 38
900 1442 60 1261 40

to see the effect of ignoring a term involving TE and/or the influence of slice profile.
The results are summarized in Table 2. In both cases, the T, values are overestimated
well up to 60%. These results demonstrate that the slice profile correction is crucial
in calculating T, images when a shaped 90” pulse is used in the experiment.
Calculationspeed.The CPU times for experimental images with 256 X 256 pixels
are typically 2 min in the case of the ideal slice and 10 min in the case of the slice
with profile. They are substantial improvements in terms of the calculation speed
compared with the methods based on the Levenverg-Marquardt algorithm.

B. T, Image Calculations
It is well known that, in the exponential decay processes, the weak signals become
noisier upon taking logarithms than the strong signals (30). In statistical terms, the
standard deviation in the logarithmic scale, u( log S), is related to that of the original
signal, a(S) , by
a(log S) = o(S)/S
through the relation d log S = dS/S (30). Here Sis the estimated or noise-free signal.
Thus log S does not exhibit the same noise level throughout the data even for S with
uniform random noise. In fact the weaker the signal, the greater the noise will be-
come. Moreover, unlike the case of, for example, photon decay in which the number
of data points is an order of 100, the number of spin-echo images is only a few,
typically four. Thus the extraction of the involved parameter will be more influenced
by the presence of noise in the spin-echo experiment than in the photon decay.
The weight of the ith data of log S is given by ( 7,30)
w,(logS) = l/a~(logS) = $/a?(S).
Since it is assumed that ai( S) is same throughout all the images and a constant multi-
plication of the weight does not affect the calculation of T2, one can write
104 LIU, NIEMINEN, AND KOENIG

TABLE 3
The Average and Standard Deviation of T2 Values in Milliseconds Obtained from the Four-Point Data:
Effect of Logarithmic Linearization and Weighting

1. For data with noise of kO.05 C’

T2 (input) T2” SD“ TZ6 SDh Tz” SD
-.
40 41.77 4.60 39.95 7.12 40.35 4.5 1
60 61.23 5.90 60.1 I 7.47 60.45 5.82
80 81.46 7.8 1 80.8 I 8.79 80.84 7.17
100 101.66 10.27 100.96 11.20 101.05 10.23
120 122.18 13.00 121.59 14.01 121.61 12.98

2. For data with noise of 20.0 I C’

T2 (input) Tz” SD” T*h SD” T2 ” SD’
-I_
40 40.04 0.87 39.96 I .39 39.99 0.87
60 60.05 1.10 60.03 1.35 60.02 1 09
80 80.08 1.50 80.06 1.72 80.06 I,50
100 100.03 2.00 99.96 2.19 100.00 2.00
120 120.07 2.63 120.05 2.81 120.05 2.63

il Obtained using linearized equation with weighting by square of signal.

’ Obtained using linearized equation with no weighting.
‘Obtained using original exponential equation.

w;(log S) = s?.
However, $ cannot be obtained until they are actually estimated. One alternative is
to replace ,!$ by the measured intensity data Si. Although it is possible to use Si itera-
tively, i.e., first estimate $ either with no weighting or with weighting by S: and then
apply it in the calculation, a test run shows no significant gain as a result. It is partly
because, while perfect or noise-free data need no weighting scheme, T2 and C’ values
(see Eq. [ 121) estimated from a noisy set of data are not true values but can still be
derived from them.
To simulate the effect of weighting on the calculation of T, from noisy data, a series
of signals were generated at TE = 25,50,75, and 100 ms for five T2ranging from 40
to 120 ms. Then random noise was added to these noise-free signals to create two sets
of intensity data, one set having a noise ranging from -0.0X” to i-0.05C and the
other set from -0.0 1C’ to +O.O 1C’. As defined above, the pseudo-density C’ corre-
sponds to the intensity at TE = 0. The fitting schemes were as follows: (a) use linear-
ized equation by taking logarithms where each datum is weighted by the square of
intensity, (b) use linearized equation with no weighting, or (c) directly use the expo-
nential function, Eq. [ 121. The results of T2 calculation are given in Table 3. Each
reported T, and standard deviation (SD) value was obtained from 1000 T2 values
calculated from 1000 sets of intensity data generated by adding random noise of the
corresponding level. These 1000 values were divided into 10 groups, each group con-
sisting of 100 values of calculated T2. Then an average and standard deviation were
calculated from each group. When 10 averages and standard deviations were ob-
 CALCULATION OF NMR IMAGES 105

TABLE 4
The Average and Standard Deviation of T2 Values Obtained
from the Two-Point Data; Effect of Limited Data

I. For data with noise of +0.05 C’

TE = 2550 ms TE = 25,100 ms

T, (input) T2 SD i-2 SD

40 41.38 7.84 40.16 7.74

60 62.37 12.79 60.14 8.01
80 84.15 19.78 80.9 1 9.26
100 106.47 28.86 101.11 12.06
120 129.23 39.68 121.62 14.67

2. For data with noise of +O.OlC’

TE = 25,50 ms TE=25,100ms

T, (input) T2 SD T2 SD

40 39.98 1.50 39.95 1.53

60 60.14 2.33 60.05 I .46
80 80.22 3.47 80.10 1.84
100 100.25 4.81 99.94 2.32
120 120.22 6.45 120.04 2.91

tained as a result, these values were again averaged and given as T, and SD in Table
3, respectively. Table 3 shows that the direct implementation of the exponential func-
tion produces the most reliable results as one expects, but the performance is compa-
rable with that of the weighted linear least-squares method especially when the noise
is not severe. The advantage of utilizing weighting over no weighting becomes clear
when the noise level decreases.
Also other tests were made with two sets of selected data corresponding to TE
= 25, 50 ms and TE = 25, 100 ms, respectively, to simulate the calculation of T2
using only two images. Because the three schemes gave the same results up to five
significant figures, only the results obtained by the weighted linear least-squares
method are given in Table 4, where the T, and SD were obtained in the same way as
above. Comparing Table 4 with Table 3 indicates that using only two images gives
worse results than using all the images.
On the basis of this simulation, it can be concluded that the weighting improves the
accuracy of calculation of T2images except in very noisy data, where the exponential
function is a more reliable mathematical model to implement. Typically it takes
about one minute in CPU time to calculate T, by the weighted linear least-squares
method and spin density images by Eq. [ 131, respectively, from experimental images
with 256 X 256 pixels.
C. ExperimentalResults
The experimental and computational results are given in the next four figures.
Plasticized poly( vinyl acetate) (PVAc) emulsion with a solids content of 40% and a
106 LIU, NIEMINEN, AND KOENIG

FIG. 2. NMR image of PVAc emulsion (upper half) and PVAc emulsion-wood powder (lower half)
surrounded by tap water. The image was taken at TRITE = 4.0 s/ 12 ms.

viscosity of 15 Pas was used to construct a sample. A plastic vial with a diameter of
20 mm was split to make two semicircle containers. One section was filled with the
PVAc emulsion, while the other one was filled with a mixture of 9 parts af PVAc
emulsion and 1 part of wood powder. Then they were put together, wrapped with
parafilm, and placed in a bigger vial with a diameter of 30 mm containing tap water. A
series of 256 X 256 images ofthe sample were taken on a Bruker MSL300 instrument
operating at 300 MHz equipped with mini imaging accessories by using a spin-echo
sequence with CYCLOPS phase cycling. A typical image taken at TR/TE = 4 s/ 12
ms is shown in Fig. 2. Tap water was used as a reference, which appears as an annulus
in the image. The pure emulsion and the mixture appear in the upper and lower
halves of the image. The images taken at four TR values of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 s
and the same TE value of 12 ms were used to calculate the r, image shown i,n Fig. 3.
On the other hand, the images taken at four TE values of 12.24,48, and 96 ms and
 CALCULATION OF NMR IMAGES 107

FIG. 3. Calculated T, image. White corresponds to a T, value of 3.0 s.

the same TR value of 4 s were used to calculate the T, image shown in Fig. 4. The
image taken at TR / TE = 4 s/ 12 ms ( Fig. 2 ) was used in both calculations; thus seven
images were used in the overall procedure. The proton spin density image was also
computed and is given in Fig. 5 using the same gray scale range as that in Fig. 2 for
comparison. The spots, especially in the upper half, indicate the presence of air bub-
bles which were apparently moving slowly upward during the imaging. The heteroge-
neity in the mixture of emulsion and wood powder is well reflected in the three calcu-
lated images which subsequently suggests incomplete mixing.

CONCLUSION

A procedure to compute T, , T2, and spin density images in NMRI is described, in

which T, and T, images are calculated separately and then the spin density image is
calculated utilizing these two images. A general mathematical model of the signal
108 LIU, NIEMINEN, AND KOENIG

FIG. 4. Calculated T, image. Tz values of up to 200 ms are shown.

intensity for the spin-echo pulse sequence that includes terms arising from the held
inhomogeneity and the slice profile effect is presented. Ti images are calculated from
the images taken at the same TE but different TRs by an overrelaxation technique of
the Newton-Raphson method. For the case of a slice with a profile as a result of the
imperfect selective 90” pulse, an efficient and fast way to implement the iteration
scheme to compute T, images is proposed based on the linear interpolation of the
discrete integral tables of the slice-dependent function and its derivatives. Also it is
pointed out that the equation of type (1 - e-TR’Tl >eeTElT2 obtained ignoring the
effect of 180” pulse on the longitudinal relaxation process results in noticeable system-
atic errors. T2and the spin density images are calculated by linear least-squares meth-
ods. In the case of the T2calculation, the importance of weighting when an exponen-
tial decay process is linearized by taking logarithms is demonstrated especially for
spin-echo experiments which normally involve only several data points or images. In
this approach of computing T,, T2, and spin density images, an overall saving of
computation time while maintaining the accuracy is significant.
 CALCULATION OF NMR IMAGES 109

FIG. 5. Calculated proton spin density shown in the same gray level range as that in Fig. 2.

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