Peder E. Z. Larson1, Duan Xu1,
Daniel B. Vigneron1
1Radiology and Biomedical Imaging,
University of California - San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
Ultrashort
echo time (UTE) imaging of the brain has the potential for direct detection
of myelin, calcifications and other short-T2 components that are altered in
neurodegenerative diseases and other neurological pathologies. Ultra high-field MRI at 7T offers improved
SNR for detection of these components which generally have low signal
intensity. In this project, we have
developed a 3D radial UTE acquisition for 7T brain imaging providing full
head coverage in just over 5 mins.
Both dual-echo subtraction and off-resonant saturation pulses were
applied yielding good contrast of connective tissues and white matter
short-T2 components.
Keywords