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September 17, 2025

Mitigation of T1 impact for unbiased tumor APT MRI using quasi-steady-state based apparent exchange-dependent relaxation analysis

Key Points

QUASS-based AREX analysis significantly reduces T1 confounding effects in CEST MRI images.
Conventional CEST images suffer from substantial T1 influence, limiting their diagnostic accuracy.
CEST MRI experiments were performed using a creatine phantom and patients with brain tumors.
The QUASS-based AREX metric provides a reliable correction method for unbiased tumor imaging.

Abstract

Motivation: T1 confounds CEST measurements, leading to reduced specificity and misinterpretation of CEST MRI. Goal(s): The study aimed to investigate the feasibility of quasi-steady-state (QUASS)-based apparent exchange-dependent relaxation (AREX) analysis in correcting T1. Approach: CEST MRI experiments were conducted on a creatine phantom and brain tumor patients. Conventional CEST effect was quantified with the asymmetry analysis for the phantom or a multipool Lorentzian function for human brains from QUASS Z-spectra. The AREX metric with T1 correction was calculated from the inverse of QUASS Z-spectra. Results: Substantial T1 impact was shown on conventional CEST images, whereas the QUASS-based AREX measurements were less affected by T1. Impact: The QUASS-based AREX analysis can effectively correct the T1 confoundment in CEST measurements, facilitating unbiased tumor CEST MRI at 3 T.

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