In vivo quantitative Magnetisation Transfer in the cervical spinal cord using reduced Field-of-View imaging: a feasibility study

Quantitative Magnetization Transfer (qMT) Imaging techniques offer the possibility to estimate tissue macromolecular fraction, which has been shown to be specific for myelin in the brain and spinal cord. To date, applications of qMT in the spinal cord have been hampered by prohibitive protocol duration. We propose a novel approach for qMT in the spinal cord based on the combination of offresonance saturation a small field-of-view imaging, with the potential of reducing scan time needed to perform qMT in the spinal cord.