Method and means for magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy using pulsed saturation transfer contrast

摘要

Disclosed is a method of detecting NMR signals indicative of a short T2 species in the presence of a long T2 species by utilizing magnetization transfer between species without requiring an auxiliary RF amplifier and with reduced power deposition (SAR). One or more zero degree RF pulses are applied to a body containing the short T2 species and the long T2 species with the pulses being at the resonant frequency. The RF pulses provides selective magnetization saturation of the short T2 species, and the RF pulses are spaced in time to allow magnetization transfer from the short T2 species to the long T2 species. Gradients can then be applied to the body for signal localization with signals detected from the long T2 species due to magnetization transfer from the short T2 species being indicative of the presence of the short T2 species. The signals are indicative also of the magnetization transfer between species. The zero degree RF pulses can be zero area binomial pulses or zero degree adiabatic pulses. Each pulse has a magnitude and a duration sufficient for significant magnetization decay in the short T2 species.