Figure 1

Phantom results showing the modified TI scout sequence. The large circular phantom has a T1 of 158 ms, and is optimally nulled by a TI of 105 ms. The small phantom on the bottom left has a T1 of 450 ms and is optimally nulled by a TI of 300 ms. The small phantom on the bottom right has a T1 of 210 ms and is optimally nulled by a TI of 140 ms. These images show that with a flip angle of 5°, the optimal TI is determined quite accurately. At a flip angle of 10°, low TIs are determined accurately, but higher TIs are underestimated, due to signal burn-off, as seen from the images in row 4.