Comparison of SNR and Diffusion Parameters on 1.5, 3.0 and 7.0 Tesla

Daniel Polders¹, Hans Hoogduin¹, Manus Joseph Donahue², Jeroen Hendrikse¹, Peter Luijten¹

We compare the performance of a regular DTI sequence on three clinically relevant field strengths: 1.5, 3.0 and 7.0 Tesla. We inspected regional differences in the corpus callosum, corticospinal tract and optic radiations, comparing SNR and FA. Despite the fact that scanning at 7T is still far from optimal, a significant gain of SNR with field strength is shown. Even without further improvements on B0 and B1 shimming, we show that DTI at 7T is not only feasible but also beneficial for SNR.