Method and system for mapping transverse relaxation in magnetic resonance scan

Abstract

A method of mapping transverse relaxation in a magnetic resonance (MR) scan data, comprises receiving a multi-echo spin-echo MR scan protocol comprising a plurality of MR imaging parameters, and for each echo of the multi-echo spin-echo MR scan protocol: generating, based on the parameters, a simulated echo modulation curve using a set of refocusing coherence pathways, for each of a plurality of predetermined transverse relaxation times; calculating, for each transverse relaxation time, diffusion attenuation based on a respective subset of the refocusing coherence pathways; and correcting the echo modulation curve using the diffusion attenuation. The method can also comprise comparing the scan data to the corrected echo modulation curve for each of at least a portion of the transverse relaxation values, and generating a displayed output comprising a map of transverse relaxation based on the comparison.