A.A.J. De Rotte1,
A.G. Van der Kolk1, D.R. Rutgers1, P.M.J. Zelissen2,
Fredy Visser1, 3, Peter R. Luijten1, Jeroen Hendrikse1
1Radiology,
University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands; 2Internal
Medicine, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands; 3Philips
Healthcare, Best, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
For diagnosing small pituitary gland lesions, a high spatial resolution is necessary. Due to its superior soft tissue contrast, MRI is the technique of choice for diagnosis of these lesions. Since a higher fieldstrength enables higher spatial resolutions, a dedicated pituitary gland protocol was developed at 7.0T, consisting of a T1-weighted Magnetization-Preparation Inversion Recovery TSE sequence and a T2-weighted TSE sequence, both with 0.8mm isotropic voxels. Highly detailed visualization of the pituitary gland was possible in 10 healthy volunteers and 2 patients, with high image quality and -contrast. This dedicated 7.0T protocol could have additional value in the clinical setting.