Figure 1.
Scheme of data evaluation for spillover- and T1-compensated chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST). Only simple matrix operations are performed to obtain the apparent exchange-dependent relaxation (AREX) contrast. The step of defining a suitable reference value Zref is crucial. DC, duty cycle; MTRRex, spillover-corrected magnetization transfer ratio yielding Rex; QUESP, quantification of exchnage by saturation power.