Neel Madan1, Thomas Benner2, Elizabeth Anne Thiele3, Emad N. Eskandar4, Lawrence L. Wald2,5, Patricia Ellen Grant1,2
1Department of Pediatric Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; 2A.A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; 3Pediatric Epilepsy Service, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; 4MGH-HMS Center for Nervous System Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; 5Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
Identification of focal cortical dysplasias (FCD) on MRI is critical in the management of patients with medically refractory epilepsy. In this study, four patients with known or suspected FCD were imaged at 7T and 3T with 32 channel phased array coils. High resolution imaging allowed characterization and delineation of tissue involvement in three of the patients. These two technologies complemented each other in defining lesion boundary and characterizing the involved tissue. Both 7T and 3T with 32 channel coil hold great promise as a problem solving tool for lesion identification in those patients with MR negative medically refractory epilepsy.