Aging and gender effects in native T1 and extracellular volume fraction assessment using SASHA

Excerpt

Reference values for T₁ mapping-derived extracellular volume fraction (ECV) in healthy individuals are not currently well established. Histological measurements in autopsy studies have shown decreasing ECV with healthy aging in men, however recent non-invasive measurements of ECV using different T₁ mapping techniques are inconsistent with respect to the effect of aging and gender, with a relatively wide range of values depending on the method. The goal of the current study was to characterize native T₁ and ECV as a function of age in healthy individuals (no cardiovascular risk factors or medication) with the SAturation-recovery single-SHot Acquisition (SASHA) method (Magn Reson Med. 2014 Jun;71(6):2082-95), providing comparison to existing literature. …