Abstract #0425

Huang S, Wolahan S, Mathern G, Chute D, Akhtari M, Nguyen S, Huynh M, Salamon N, Lin Y

A new method for enhancing MRI contrast between gray and white matter in epileptogenic lesions is demonstrated. This method uses the radiation damping feedback interaction in high-field MRI to amplify contrast due to small differences in resonance frequency in gray and white matter corresponding to variations in tissue susceptibility. High-resolution radiation damping-enhanced images of in vitro brain tissue from five patients were acquired at 14T and compared against conventional T1-weighted, T2-weighted, and proton density images and simulated radiation damping-enhanced images. The radiation damping-enhanced images yielded 5x better contrast-to-noise ratios on average than the best T1-weighted, T2-weighted, or proton density images.