Abstract #2644

Schmalbrock P, Heverhagen J, Wassennaar P, Thompson M, Truong T, Knopp M, Chakeres D, Duraj J

Brain iron is known to change with aging and in neurodegenerative disease, and this may be indicative of disturbances in iron homeostasis and/or oxidative stress. Thus non-invasive assessment of brain iron is of significant interest. Consequently, measurement of brain iron has been attempted at 1.5T and 3T, however, with mixed results. It is expected that ultrahigh field MRI is significantly more sensitive to susceptibility effects from iron. In this work, T2 was measured at 7T and 8T for different brain regions and ages with the purpose to evaluate ultrahigh field transverse relaxation mechanisms and their dependence on parenchymal iron.