Files
Abstract
Contrast enhanced MRI has many applications. Among those applications, positivecontrast mapping and dynamic contrast enhance MRI (DCE-MRI) will be discussed in this thesis. Cells labeled with paramagnetic contrast agent can be detected by a negative contrast or signal loss in 2 T weighted image. In order to overcome the drawback of negative contrast method, recent research has focused on the positive contrast techniques such as white marker, inversion recovery on resonance water suppression (IRON), energy spectrum method, and susceptibility gradient mapping (SGM). In this thesis, newly developed positive contrast technique referred to as phase gradient mapping (PGM) will be discussed. The results of two positive contrast methods, SGM and PGM, are compared. In addition to these contrast enhanced MRI techniques, dynamic contrast enhanced technique (DCE-MRI) also is discussed and demonstrated using in vivo dog brain tumor data.