High field strength magnetic resonance imaging of brain lesion

Hyung Suk Seo

doi:10.5124/jkma.2010.53.12.1086

J Korean Med Assoc > Volume 53(12); 2010 > Article

Seo: High field strength magnetic resonance imaging of brain lesion

Focused Issue of This Month

Clinical Application of High Field Strength Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Journal of the Korean Medical Association

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2010; 53(12): 1086-1092.

Published online: December 07, 2010

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2010.53.12.1086

High field strength magnetic resonance imaging of brain lesion

Hyung Suk Seo, MD

Department of Radiology, Ansan Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Ansan, Korea.

Corresponding author: Hyung Suk Seo, seohs@korea.ac.kr

Received November 14, 2010 Accepted November 26, 2010

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The primary merit of a 3 tesla (T) magnetic resonance (MR) scanner is the increase in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). It can offer high spatial and temporal image resolution and its diagnostic potential for brain lesions can be improved at the magnetic strength of 3T. In addition to the increased SNR, strong prolongation of T1 relaxation time at high field MR leads to overall improvements in enhancing lesions versus non-enhancing tissue on contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images and blood versus tissue contrast on time-of-flight MR angiography. Increased chemical shift and susceptibility can improve the spectral resolution in MR spectroscopy and the sensitivities in the micro-hemorrhage detection of gradient echo image, the perfusion change of perfusion MRI, and the blood oxygen level-dependent effect of functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The short acquisition time of diffusion MRI at 3T can decrease motion artifacts in irritable stroke patients and it can be easier to estimate anisotrophy and to increase the efficiency of tractography in diffusion tensor imaging with high numbers of gradient directions. On the other hand, the regulation of the specific absorption rate due to increased radio-frequency energy deposition and the controls for signal loss and increased artifacts at 3T are the main clinical problems. If the drawbacks can be addressed by parallel imaging or pulse sequence changes, 3T MRI can be a useful diagnostic tool and increase the diagnostic accuracy in various brain lesions, such as stroke, trauma, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, dementia, and brain tumors.

Magnetic resonance imaging; High field strength; Brain diseases; 3 tesla

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Figure 1

Brain T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 1.5 tesla (T) (A) and 3T (B) were performed in about 3.5 minutes of same scan time and 5 mm of same slice thickness. The spatial resolution of brain MRI at 3T could be increased with high signal-to-noise ratio compared to brain MRI at 1.5T. The matrix size of 3T is 0.4×0.5 mm, whereas the matrix size of 1.5T is 0.6×0.8 mm (courtesy of Philips Healthcare Korea).

Figure 2

Sixty-six-year-old-male with acute infarction. Diffusion-weighted image (DWI) at 1.5 tesla (T) (A) could not show the acute infarction. However, DWI at 3T (B) shows typical small hyperintense acute infarction at right insula and frontal operculum and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map at 3T (B) shows decreased ADC.

Figure 3

Twenty-four-year-old-male with diffuse axonal injury. Fluid attenuated T2-weighted image at 3 tesla (T) (A) shows small patchy hyperintense edema at the subcortical white matter of right superior frontal gyrus. Susceptibility-weighted image at 3T (B) shows multiple tiny dark microhemorrhage.

Figure 4

Thirty-nine-year-old-female with left hippocampal sclerosis. Coronal T2-weighted image at 3 tesla (A) shows small and hyperintense left hippocampus. Normal three-layered structure is appeared at normal right hippocampus. Spoiled gradient 3D images show the decreased left hippocampal volume (C) compared with the normal right hippocampal volume (B).

Figure 5

Sixty-six-year-old-female with anaplastic astrocytoma. The left frontal mass is hyperintense on T2-weighted image (A) and well enhanced on contrast-enhanced T1-weighted image (B). The transverse (C) and coronal tractography (D) at 3 tesla show the relationship between the mass and left pyramidal tract. Therefore, they may help to plan the surgical margin.