Multicomponent T₂ relaxometry reveals early myelin white matter changes induced by proton radiation treatment

To investigate MRI myelin water imaging (MWI) by multicomponent T2 relaxometry as a quantitative imaging biomarker for brain radiation-induced changes and to compare it with DTI.Sixteen patients underwent fractionated proton therapy (PT) receiving dose to the healthy tissue because of direct or indirect (base skull tumors) irradiation. MWI was performed by a multi-echo sequence with 32 equally spaced echoes (10-320 ms). Decay data were processed...