ontrast-weighted images are commonly acquired in MRI, where one tissue-related parameter usually dominates the contrast, such as T1 or T2 weighting. Relative contrast differences across one image indicate different underlying tissue parameters, but this requires several sequences with different contrast weighting for a final diagnosis. These weighted contrasts provide only qualitative information, which limits the ability of qualitative MRI to depict mostly morphologic abnormalities. Pathologic conditions that alter tissue characteristics on a global or diffuse scale may be missed (1). Instead of indirectly visualizing tissue characteristics by using weighted contrasts, quantitative MRI attempts to directly measure them. Thereby, quantitative MRI could facilitate identification of physiologic changes that do not manifest themselves in morphologic changes or could help detect diffuse tissue changes (eg, in liver [2] and cardiac fibrosis [3]) that remain undetected by using qualitative MRI. It can provide more specific information than does qualitative MRI for characterizing pathologic conditions, such as multiple sclerosis (4) or brain tumors (5). Furthermore, quantitative MRI can be used to assess treatment response (6) or can aid in cases where no side comparison can be performed, such as hippocampal sclerosis (7). With quantitative MRI, diseases can be detected before gross morphologic

The growing interest in ultra-high field MRI, with more than 35.000 MR examinations already performed at 7 T, is related to improved clinical results with regard to morphological as well as functional and metabolic capabilities. Since the signal-to-noise ratio increases with the field strength of the MR scanner, the most evident application at 7 T is to gain higher spatial resolution in the brain compared to 3 T. Of specific clinical interest for neuro applications is the cerebral cortex at 7 T, for the detection of changes in cortical structure, like the visualization of cortical microinfarcts and cortical plaques in Multiple Sclerosis. In imaging of the hippocampus, even subfields of the internal hippocampal anatomy and pathology may be visualized with excellent spatial resolution. Using Susceptibility Weighted Imaging, the plaque-vessel relationship and iron accumulations in Multiple Sclerosis can be visualized, which may provide a prognostic factor of disease. Vascular imaging is a highly promising field for 7 T which is dealt with in a separate dedicated article in this special issue. The static and dynamic blood oxygenation level-dependent contrast also increases with the field strength, which significantly improves the accuracy of pre-surgical evaluation of vital brain areas before tumor removal. Improvement in acquisition and hardware technology have also resulted in an increasing number of MR spectroscopic imaging studies in patients at 7 T. More recent parallel imaging and short-TR acquisition approaches have overcome the limitations of scan time and spatial resolution, thereby allowing imaging matrix sizes of up to 128×128. The benefits of these acquisition approaches for investigation of brain tumors and Multiple Sclerosis have been shown recently. Together, these possibilities demonstrate the feasibility and advantages of conducting routine diagnostic imaging and clinical research at 7 T.

Objective-The aim of this study was to compare quantitative and semiquantitative parameters (signal-to-noise ratio [SNR], contrast-to-noise ratio [CNR], image quality, diagnostic confidence) from a standard brain magnetic resonance imaging examination encompassing common neurological disorders such as demyelinating disease, gliomas, cerebrovascular disease, and epilepsy, with comparable sequence protocols and acquisition times at 3 T and at 7 T.Materials and Methods-Ten healthy volunteers and 4 subgroups of 40 patients in total underwent comparable magnetic resonance protocols with standard diffusion-weighted imaging, 2D and 3D turbo spin echo, 2D and 3D gradient echo and susceptibility-weighted imaging of the brain (10 sequences) at 3 T and 7 T. The subgroups comprised patients with either lesional (n = 5) or nonlesional (n = 4) epilepsy, intracerebral tumors (n = 11), demyelinating disease (n = 11) (relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis [MS, n = 9], secondary progressive MS [n = 1], demyelinating disease not further specified [n = 1]), or chronic cerebrovascular disorders [n = 9]). For quantitative analysis, SNR and CNR were determined. For a semiquantitative assessment of the diagnostic confidence, a 10-point scale diagnostic confidence score (DCS) was applied. Two experienced radiologists with additional qualification in neuroradiology independently assessed, blinded to the field strength, 3 pathology-specific imaging criteria in each of the 4 disease groups and rated their diagnostic confidence. The overall image quality was semiquantitatively assessed using a 4-point scale taking into account whether diagnostic decision making was hampered by artifacts or not.Results-Without correction for spatial resolution, SNR was higher at 3 T except in the T2 SPACE 3D, DWI single shot, and DIR SPACE 3D sequences. The SNR corrected by the ratio of 3Correspondence to: Siegfried Trattnig, MD, High Field MR Center, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Waerhringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria. siegfried.trattnig@meduniwien.ac.at. Conflicts of interestThe authors report no conflicts of interest. Europe PMC Funders Group Europe PMC Funders Author ManuscriptsEurope PMC Funders Author Manuscripts T/7 T voxel sizes was higher at 7 T than at 3 T in 10 of 11 sequences (all except for T1 MP2RAGE 3D).In CNR, there was a wide variation between sequences and patient cohorts, but average CNR values were broadly similar at 3 T and 7 T.DCS values for all 4 pathologic entities were higher at 7 T than at 3 T. The DCS was significantly higher at 7 T for diagnosis and exclusion of cortical lesions in vascular disease. A tendency to higher DCS at 7 T for cortical lesions in MS was observed, and for the depiction of a central vein and iron deposits within MS lesions. Despite motion artifacts, DCS values were higher at 7 T for the diagnosis and exclusion of hippocampal sclerosis in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (improved detection of the hippocampal subunits). Interrater ag...

PurposeTo develop a distortion correction method for echo planar imaging (EPI) that is able to measure dynamic changes in B0.Theory and MethodsThe approach we propose is based on single‐echo EPI with a jittering of the echo time between two values for alternate time points. Field maps are calculated between phase images from adjacent volumes and are used to remove distortion from corresponding magnitude images. The performance of our approach was optimized using an analytical model and by comparison with field maps from dual‐echo EPI. The method was tested in functional MRI experiments at 7T with motor tasks and compared with the conventional static approach.ResultsUnwarping using our method was accurate even for head rotations up to 8.2°, where the static approach introduced errors up to 8.2 mm. Jittering the echo time between 19 and 25 ms had no measurable effect on blood oxygenation level–dependent (BOLD) sensitivity. Our approach reduced the distortions in activated regions to <1 mm and repositioned active voxels correctly.ConclusionThis method yields accurate distortion correction in the presence of motion. No reduction in BOLD sensitivity was observed. As such, it is suitable for application in a wide range of functional MRI experiments. Magn Reson Med 76:1388–1399, 2016. © 2015 The Authors Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Increased BOLD sensitivity at 7 T offers the possibility to increase the reliability of fMRI, but ultra-high field is also associated with an increase in artifacts related to head motion, Nyquist ghosting, and parallel imaging reconstruction errors. In this study, the ability of independent component analysis (ICA) to separate activation from these artifacts was assessed in a 7 T study of neurological patients performing chin and hand motor tasks. ICA was able to isolate primary motor activation with negligible contamination by motion effects. The results of General Linear Model (GLM) analysis of these data were, in contrast, heavily contaminated by motion. Secondary motor areas, basal ganglia, and thalamus involvement were apparent in ICA results, but there was low capability to isolate activation in the same brain regions in the GLM analysis, indicating that ICA was more sensitive as well as more specific. A method was developed to simplify the assessment of the large number of independent components. Task-related activation components could be automatically identified via these intuitive and effective features. These findings demonstrate that ICA is a practical and sensitive analysis approach in high field fMRI studies, particularly where motion is evoked. Promising applications of ICA in clinical fMRI include presurgical planning and the study of pathologies affecting subcortical brain areas.