T2-selective proton imaging at 10 MHz is based on a Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill pulse sequence with at least 36 echoes and 2 tau greater than or equal to 6 ms employing the projection reconstruction technique. The transverse magnetization decay of the volume elements is multiexponential composed of up to three monoexponential T2 components. The T2 values are arranged in T2 histograms which are slice specific. T2 windows are defined in the T2 histogram and used for imaging and for selecting T2 values which are assigned to proton classes and tissues. Tissue characterization is based on the visualization of differences in T2 behavior. The T2 values are transformed into 256 gray levels or, by use of a red-green-blue lookup table, into a rainbow code. Two display techniques have been developed and implemented in the RWTH Aachen Magnetic Resonance Software System (RAMSES): (i) for nonselective T2 imaging with secondary T2 selection and encoding of molecular classes on the basis of T2 values; (ii) for T2-selective imaging by employing combined primary and secondary T2 selection and encoding particular tissues and variations therein. The tissues can be identified by selecting different classes of molecules, like water, lipids, and proteins, when shifting the primary T2 window on the T2 axis of the T2 histogram.

Two-dimensional T2-selective proton imaging of human head has been performed at 10 MHz employing Carr-Purcell-Gill-Meiboom pulse trains with echo separation of 6 and 12 msec. Using the information of 36 spin echoes and applying a recovery time of 2 sec the magnetization decay has been traced. The multi-exponential T2 relaxation curve of each pixel of the image has been deconvoluted into up to three mono-exponential functions which are defined by 1/T2,i and alpha i. The T2,i values are represented in a T2 histogram of the slice and then selected for generating images which relate to protons with specific T2. The alpha i values indicate the relative amounts of the T2-selected protons. Imaging on the basis of alpha i values increases the contrast of the image. The multiple T2-selective imaging technique leads to head images which show selectively cerebrospinal fluid, gray matter, different types of white matter, and nonassigned fast-relaxing proton classes.

Two-dimensional T2-selective proton imaging of human head has been performed at 10 MHz employing Cam-Purcell-Gill-Meiboom pulse lrains with echo separation of 6 and 12 msec. Using the information of 36 spin echoes and applying a recovery time of 2 sec the magnetization decay has been traced. The multi-exponential T2 relaxation curve of each pixel of the image has been deconvoluted into up to three monoexponential functions which are defined by l/T2., and a, The T2., values are represented in a T2 histogram of the slice and then selected for generating images which relate to protons with specific T2. The a, values indicate the relative amounts of the Tz-selected protons. Imaging on the basis of a, values increases the contrast of the image. The multiple T2-selective imaging technique leads to head images which show selectively cerebrospinal fluid, gray matter, different types of white: matter, and nonassigned fastrelaxing proton classes.

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