ISMRM 23rd Annual Meeting & Exhibition • 30 May - 05 June 2015 • Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Power Pitch Session
High Field Applications
Power Pitch Theatre, Exhibition Hall, 10:30 - 12:30
Plasma Screens, Exhibition Hall, 12:30 - 13:30
Moderators: Gregory J. Metzger, Ph.D., T.B.A.
Thursday 4 June 2015

Click this video icon to view the introductory session:

Note: The videos below are only the slides from each presentation. They do not have audio.


Plasma # Program #  
1 0754. Whole Brain Pulsed Arterial Spin Labelling at Ultra High Field with a B1+-optimised Adiabatic Labelling Pulse
Kieran O'Brien†1,2, Fabian Zimmer†2, Steffen Bollmann2, Josef Pfeuffer3, Keith Heberlein4, and Markus Barth2
1Healthcare Sector, Siemens Ltd, Brisbane, Australia, 2The Centre for Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 3Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany, 4Siemens Healthcare, Boston, MA, United States

Pulsed Arterial Spin Labelling (ASL) techniques should benefit from the increased signal to noise ratio available at ultra high field. Previous proof-of-concept ASL studies have been limited to the superior regions of the brain due to poor labelling efficiency of the blood in the neck. We propose and show that through replacing the frequency offset corrected inversion (FOCI) adiabatic pulse with a low-B1 power time resampled (TR-)FOCI pulse we can obtain reliable perfusion signal at 7T across the whole brain without the need for dielectric pads or dedicated labelling coils.

2 0755. 7T Imaging of patients with focal epilepsy who appear non-lesional in diagnostic 1.5T and 3T MRI scans: first results
Rebecca Emily Feldman1, Hadrien Dyvorne1, Bradley Neil Delman1, Madeline Cara Fields2, Lara Vanessa Marcuse2, and Priti Balchandani1
1Radiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States, 2Department of Neurology, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, New York, United States

MRI plays a vital role in the localization and characterization of epileptogenic abnormalities. High field MRI has been useful in characterizing hippocampal sclerosis, cortical dysplasias, and vascular malformations associated with epilepsy. We report results for a study designed to assess the value of 7T imaging to reveal subtle abnormalities acting as epileptogenic foci in patients with idiopathic focal epilepsy who have non-lesional diagnostic MRI scans. We report all abnormalities detected at 7T, including those that have had an impact on surgical planning and treatment course as well as findings that could assist with better understanding the etiology of the disease.

3 0756.
In vivo 37Cl MRI of Human Calf Muscle at 7T
Judith Schork1, Anna Kollefrath1, Manuela B. Rösler1, Reiner Umathum1, and Armin M. Nagel1
1Medical Physics in Radiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany

Chloride (Cl-) plays an important role in several physiological processes. However, due to the very short transverse relaxation times, quantitative measurements of 35Cl are challenging. Although this isotope exhibits higher NMR sensitivity than 37Cl, the 1.27-fold lower electrical quadrupole moment of37Cl results in longer relaxation times and could offer an imaging advantage over 35Cl. To prove this effect a quadrature birdcage coil for 37Cl MRI was built and used for in vivo and phantom measurements. This work shows the first 37Cl in vivo images of a human calf muscle. For comparison of relaxation times, 35Cl MRI was also performed.

4 0757. T1rho and T2 relaxation times in patients with knee osteoarthritis at 3 Tesla and 7 Tesla
Cory Wyatt1, Aditi Guha1, Anand Venkatachari1, Xiaojuan Li1, Roland Krug1, Douglas A.C. Kelley2, Thomas M. Link1, and Sharmila Majumdar1
1Radiology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States, 2GE Healthcare Technologies, San Francisco, California, United States

Twenty patients, seven without knee osteoarthritis and thirteen with osteoarthritis, were scanned at 3T and 7T with T1rho and T2 mapping sequences. The mean T1rho and T2 in six cartilage compartments in the knee were compared between the healthy controls and the patients with osteoarthritis. Results showed more significant differences between groups in the 7T relaxation values compared to the 3T values, suggesting the possibility of the use of smaller cohort sizes at 3T to detect changes in cartilage composition.

5 0758. Saturation recovery single-shot acquisition (SASHA) for T1 mapping in the human heart at 7T
Christopher T. Rodgers1, Yuehui Tao1, Stefan Piechnik1, Alexander Liu1, Jane Francis1, Stefan Neubauer1, and Matthew D. Robson1
1University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxon, United Kingdom

We recently reported normal myocardial T1s at 7T, using the ShMOLLI+IE sequence on a scanner with 16x1kW RF channels. We now introduce the “7T SASHA” variant of the saturation recovery single-shot acquisition (SASHA) sequence for use on scanners with only 8x1kW RF. In phantoms, “7T SASHA” T1s were within 6% of IR-SE reference T1s for readout FAs≤25°. In 10 volunteers, native 7T SASHA T1s in the septum were 1939±73ms and 999-1674ms after Dotarem contrast. These values are consistent with our ShMOLLI+IE T1 of 1925 ± 48 ms. 7T SASHA paves the way for clinical applications of T1 mapping at 7T.

6 0759. Theoretical and Experimental Comparisons of Single Breath-Hold Renal Perfusion Imaging between 3T and 7T
Xiufeng Li1, Edward J. Auerbach1, Pierre-Francois Van de Moortele1, Kamil Ugurbil1, and Gregory J. Metzger1
1Radiology-CMRR, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States

Previous study has demonstrated the feasibility of single breath-hold renal perfusion imaging using FAIR ss-FSE at 7T. Without short-term specific absorption rate issue, 3T may provide similar imaging quality for the single breath-hold perfusion imaging as 7T by using a shorter TR and a larger number of label and control images. Such a hypothesis has been disapproved by both theoretical and experimental study results.

7 0760. Ultra-short TE STEAM improves hepatic lipid quantification and profiling at 7T
Martin Gajdošík1, Grzegorz Chadzynski2,3, Vladimír Mlynárik1, Marek Chmelík1, Wolfgang Bogner1, Ladislav Valkovic1,4, Ivica Just Kukurová1, Siegfried Trattnig1, and Martin Krššák1,5
1MRCE, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, 2Department of Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, 3Department of High-Field Magnetic Resonance, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 4Institute of Measurement Science, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia, 5Department of Internal Medicine III, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Previous 1H MRS measurements in the brain have demonstrated advantages of ultra-short TE at ultra-high fields. Besides higher SNR, T2 relaxation and J-modulation effects in the spectra can be minimized. This is of particular importance in the liver tissue, where both effects along with iron deposition have to be taken into account. The STEAM with TE=6ms provided higher SNR and reproducibility for precise estimation of HCL. Furthermore the high spectral resolution at 7T with sufficient CRLB´s of single lipid resonances highlights the potential of this sequence to be used in advanced studies of hepatic lipid profiles in vivo.

8 0761. Ultra-high field in vivo localized two dimensional correlated MR spectroscopy to probe membrane degradation during progression of Alzheimer’s disease
A Alia1,2 and Niels Braakman1
1Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands, 2Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany

In this work we present the first in vivo localized two dimension spectroscopy to unambiguously identify glycerophospholipids (GPC) and phosphocholine (PC) in cortex/hippocampus region of mouse brain at 9.4T. The increase in GPC is an indicator of increased breakdown of phospholipids in Alzheimers disease. Till now the detection of phosphocholine and GPC in disease affected regions in AD brain has not been possible due to lack of sensitive detection methods. In the same brain region we visualized amyloid beta plaques by in vivo ìMRI. Our results show a clear correlation between plaque deposition and membrane breakdown in AD mouse brain.

9 0762. In vivo MR Microscopy of the Nervus Opticus at 3.0 T and 7.0 T: Anatomical and Diffusion Weighted Imaging in Healthy Subjects and Patients with Optic Nerve Glioma
Katharina Paul1, Andreas Graessl1, Jan Rieger1, Darius Lysiak1, Till Huelnhagen1, Lukas Winter1, Antje Els1, Beate Endemann1, Tobias Lindner2, Stefan Hadlich3, Paul-Christian Krueger3, Oliver Stachs2,4, Soenke Langner3, and Thoralf Niendorf1,5
1Max-Delbrueck Centre for Molecular Medicine, Berlin Ultrahigh Field Facility (B.U.F.F.), Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2University Medicine Rostock, Pre-clinical Imaging Research Group, Rostock, Germany, 3University of Greifswald, Institute for Diagnotic Radiology and Neuroradiology, Greifswald, Germany,4University Medicine Rostock, Department of Ophthalmology, Rostock, Germany, 5Experimental and Clinical Research Center, a joint cooperation between the Charite Medical Faculty and the Max-Delbrueck Center, Berlin, Germany

This work demonstrates the feasibility of in vivo MR microscopy of the optic nerve at 3.0 T and 7.0 T including T1-weighted, T2-weighted anatomical imaging along with ADC mapping. Imaging the optic nerve and other extra-ocular structures benefits from the spatial resolution enhancements at (ultra)high fields. The detail, integrity and image quality demonstrated for T1 weighted 3D FLASH imaging, T2 weighted RARE imaging and for ADC mapping underscore the value of dedicated RF coil hardware in conjunction with the signal gain at ultrahigh fields for advancing the capabilities of anatomical imaging and DWI of the eye, orbit and optic nerve.

10 0763. In-vivo proton MR spectroscopic imaging of the human brain gliomas at 9.4 Tesla: evaluation of metabolite coordinates
Grzegorz L. Chadzynski1,2, Gisela Hagberg1,2, Jonas Bause2, G. Shajan2, Sotirios Bisdas3, Rolf Pohmann2, and Klaus Scheffler1,2
1Dept. Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany, 2Dept. High-field Magnetic Resonance, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tuebingen, Germany, 3Dept. Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany

Recently it was demonstrated that the advantages of ultra-high field MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI), namely the better signal-to-noise ratio and the improved spectral resolution, can be useful in clinical applications. Studies conducted at lower field strengths (below 3T) have shown that an evaluation with the Orthonormal Discriminant Vector method (ODV) enables differentiation between low (WHO grade II and III) and high grade (WHO grade IV) human brain tumors. The aim of this study was to verify the usefulness of the ODV method in assessing human brain tumor spectra measured with MRSI at a field strength of 9.4T.

11 0764. An investigation of Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN) volume in patients with glaucoma using 7T MRI.
Hye Jin Jeong1, Jong Yeon Lee2, Jong Hwan Lee2, Yu Jeong Kim2, Eung Yeop Kim3, Yong Yeon Kim4, Zang-Hee Cho1, and Young-Bo Kim1
1Neuroscience Research Institute, Gachon University, Incheon, Korea, 2Department of Ophthalmology, Gachon University, Gil Hospital, Incheon, Korea,3Department of Radiology, Gachon University, Incheon, Korea, 4Department of Ophthalmology, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

To investigate lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) volume of glaucoma patients compared with age-matched normal controls using ultra-high field 7.0-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). On high-resolution 7.0-T MRI, LGN volumes in POAG patients are significantly smaller than those of healthy subjects. Furthermore, in patients, LGN volume was found to be significantly correlated with ganglion cell layer and inner plexus layer (GC–IPL) thickness of the contralateral eye.

12 0765. Giant Intracranial Aneurysms at 7 Tesla MRI: A New Diagnostic Approach to Understand This Rare Intracranial Vascular Pathology
Bixia Chen1,2, Toshinori Matsushige2,3, Stefan Maderwald1, Sören Johst1, Harald H. Quick1,4, Mark Edward Ladd1,5, Ulrich Sure2, and Karsten Henning Wrede1,2
1Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, NRW, Germany, 2Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Essen, University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, NRW, Germany, 3Department of Neurosurgery, Hiroshima University Hospital, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, 4High Field and Hybrid MR Imaging, University Hospital Essen, University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, NRW, Germany,5Medical Physics in Radiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, BW, Germany

Intracranial giant aneurysms (IGA) were prospectively analyzed at 7T MRI, focusing on the aneurysm wall. Six patients were examined in a 7T whole-body MR scanner with a 32-channel head coil. TOF, MPRAGE, and SWI sequences were acquired. Two surgically resected aneurysms were suitable for histological examination. 7T TOF and SWI could precisely reveal microstructures and iron deposition in individual layers of the aneurysm wall as seen in histopathology. Measurement of wall thickness on 7T TOF corresponded best with histopathological findings. Ultra-high-field MRI of this rare intracranial vascular pathology can contribute to understanding the complex pathophysiology of aneurysm growth and rupture.

13 0766. High resolution spectroscopic imaging with ultra short TE in patients with multiple sclerosis and brain tumors at 7T
Gilbert Hangel1, Bernhard Strasser1, Michal Považan1, Stephan Gruber1, Marek Chmelik1, Georg Widhalm2, Engelbert Knosp2, Assunta Dal-Bianco3, Fritz Leutmezer3, Siegfried Trattnig1, and Wolfgang Bogner1
1MCRE, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Wien, Vienna, Austria, 2Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Vienna, Wien, Vienna, Austria, 3Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Wien, Vienna, Austria

This work presents the application of single- and multi-slice accelerated high resolution FID-based spectroscopic imaging sequences with ultra-short TE in patients with multiple sclerosis and brain tumors at 7T. Using the parallel imaging method CAIPIRINHA for 2D and 3D acceleration, the measurement time for a single slice 64×64 matrix could be reduced to 6:00 minutes, as well as 22:35 minutes for a 64×64×4 matrix, allowing the inclusion into a standard imaging protocol. The acquired metabolic maps correlated well with lesions found on anatomical images, indicating a possible future use in diagnostics for multiple sclerosis and brain tumors.

14 0767. Examples of clinical imaging at 7T: Successes and Challenges
Stephen E Jones1, Se-Hong Oh1, Erik Beall1, Michael Phillips1, Ken Sakaie1, Irene Wang2, and Mark Lowe1
1Imaging Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 2Neurologic Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, United States

blah blah

15 0768. Towards clinical cardiac MR at 7.0 T: Early experience with black blood RARE imaging in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Till Huelnhagen1, Katharina Paul1, Andreas Pohlmann1, Andreas Graessl1, Jan Rieger2, Darius Lysiak2, Christof Thalhammer1, Marcel Prothmann3, Jeanette Schulz-Menger3,4, and Thoralf Niendorf1,4
1Berlin Ultrahigh Field Facility (B.U.F.F.), Max-Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany, 2MRI.TOOLS GmbH, Berlin, Germany,3Dept. of Cardiology and Nephrology, HELIOS Klinikum Berlin-Buch, Berlin, Germany, 4Experimental and Clinical Research Center, a joint cooperation between the Charite Medical Faculty and the Max-Delbrueck Center, Berlin, Germany

This study reports on early experiences made with cardiac black blood RARE imaging at 7.0 T in healthy volunteers and patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Our preliminary results underscore that cardiac black blood imaging at 7.0 T remains challenging in in patients. The main obstacles causing suboptimal image quality identified here were motion induced artifacts due to non-compliance with the breath-hold regime, mis-triggering due to cardiac arrhythmia and acquisition window timing within the cardiac cycle. It's concluded that further developments are essential to translate the benefits of high resolution black blood imaging at 7.0 T into a clinical setting.