Abstract #2786

Quantitative Magnetization Transfer Imaging of Human Brain at 7 Tesla

Richard D. Dortch^1,2, Jay Moore^2,3, Marcin Jankiewicz^1,2, Adrienne N. Dula^1,2, Ke Li^1,2, Daniel F. Gochberg^1,2, John C. Gore^1,2, Seth A. Smith^1,2

¹Radiology & Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; ²Institute of Imaging Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; ³Physics & Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States

Quantitative MT (qMT) imaging yields indices describing the interactions between free water and immobile macromolecular protons. Previous work at 1.5 and 3T has indicated that certain qMT indices may be sensitive to myelin content in white matter. Such studies may benefit from the increased SNR available at 7T; however, they are currently hampered by significant ΔB₀ and B₁⁺ inhomogeneities. Therefore, we have developed a selective inversion recovery (SIR) qMT protocol at 7T that addresses these issues and here we report data acquired in healthy human brain. The resulting qMT parameters at 7T were in agreement with previously published values.