Correlation of human NMR T₁values measuredin vivoand brain water content

Abstract

A relationship has been demonstrated between nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) longitudinal relaxation times (T1 values) obtained in vivo in both normal and oedematous (peritumoral) brain tissue, and measurements of brain water obtained by gravimetric analysis of operative samples. Significant correlations were found in seven patients in both cortex (r = 0.97, P less than 0.001) and white matter (r = 0.92, P less than 0.001). These findings suggest that NMR may prove a useful technique for monitoring brain oedema.

Advanced MR Methods in Differential Diagnosis of Brain Tumors

“…Several studies showed a positive correlation between the brain water content and the T1 relaxation time (MacDonald et al 1986;Fatouros et al 1991). The positive correlation of the mean diffusivity of water (Bastin 2002) and the T1 relaxation time and a significant T1 reduction under antiedematous therapy support the hypothesis that the T1 relaxation time reflects the tissue water content (Andersen et al 1993).…”

Neuroimaging in alcoholism: CT and MRI results and clinical correlates

“…(T 1 and T 2 refer to longitudinal and transverse relaxation times, respectively.) T 1 is prolonged as the proportion of free to bound water within brain tissue increases (MacDonald et al, 1986). T 2 shows similar though slightly less precise function (Bottomley etal., 1984;Fu etal., 1990).…”

In vivo estimation of water content in cerebral white matter of brain tumour patients and normal individuals: Towards a quantitative brain oedema definition

“…As invasive measurements of brain water content in normal human brain are impossible for obvious reasons, we employed MR RT imaging, because firstly, the "pure" RT's are closely correlated with in vivo tissue water content [8,12,17,20], and secondly, the high spatial resolution of the MR scanner could be utilized in order to compare different areas of the human brain, and thirdly, in order to obtain a comparable quantity, RT's were used, as they are constant for a given biological system in a given environment [9]. Conventional diagnostic imaging modalities, such as T1-or T2-weighted spin echo images, are inappropriate when quantitative measurements are required, as these types of images only yield arbitrary signal intensities consisting of both T1, T2 and the proton density and have a multiparametric dependence on machine constants and instrumental settings, such as the pulse sequence and the repetition time.…”