Susceptibility Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using Spectral Decomposition

Susceptibility differences of materials in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) usually lead to the intravoxel spin phase variations. Subsequently, the phase variation in the voxel results in a reduction of the signal intensity. This signal intensity reduction is known as the susceptibility effect in MRI and has been studied extensively. In this paper, a new spectral decomposition technique is proposed with which the signal change due to the susceptibility effect can be analyzed. Further, an NMR pulse sequence for the spectral decomposition of the susceptibility was developed and applied to susceptibility imaging of venous blood possessing paramagnetic properties. The computer simulations of the spectral decomposition method and their corresponding experimental results obtained using both a phantom and human volunteers are reported.