Method of mapping proton transverse relaxation time constants or functions thereof in a target subject to localised movement using nuclear magnetic resonance imaging

A method of generating a map or distribution of values of parameters that are a function of proton transverse relaxation time constants T2 in a target subject to localised movement using nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, the method comprising at least the steps of:

• acquiring a sequence of three or more T2-weighted magnetic resonance images of an identical image plane through the target at different spin-echo times (TE);
• defining a region of interest (ROI) over the target within the T2-weighted images that identifies the same region across all of the images;
• processing image intensities of each T2-weighted image within said ROI by application of an image filter that compensates for image intensity perturbations caused by localised movement of the target in said ROI to produce a filtered image intensity for each T2-weighted image;
• calculating parameters that are a function of T2 by a curve-fitting procedure applied to the filtered image intensities as a function of the spin-echo time (TE);
• and,
• generating a map or distribution of values of said parameters calculated by said curve fitting procedure or of, other parameters that are a function of or correlate with the parameters calculated by said curve fitting procedure.