Contrast testing for magnetic resonance imaging.

A test phantom for evaluating magnetic resonance image contrast was constructed using separate chambers filled with manganese chloride (MnCl2) solutions of different concentrations. The concentrations were chosen so that the relaxation times produced were distributed over the range appropriate for human tissues in brain imaging. Specific solutions had relaxation properties similar to those of white matter, gray matter, and brain tumors. The region surrounding the chambers was filled with a sodium chloride solution with conductivity similar to that of brain tissue so that radiofrequency signal absorption would be appropriate. When magnetic resonance relaxation response curves were obtained with the phantom, relaxation contrast and latitude could be compared for different imaging pulse sequences. Contrast responses for gradient echo sequences differed considerably when the flip angle was changed.