High signal-to-noise FLASH imaging at 8 Tesla

• Published in: Magnetic resonance imaging Vol. 17; no. 8; pp. 1099 - 1103
• Main Authors: Burgess, Richard E, Yu, Ying, Abduljalil, Amir M, Kangarlu, Allahyar, Robitaille, Pierre-Marie L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01-10-1999; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Brain - anatomy & histology; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Medical sciences; Nervous system; Radiodiagnosis. Nmr imagery. Nmr spectrometry; Reference Values; Signal-to-noise; Ultra high field; Ultra high field; Signal-to-noise; Human; Image quality; Chemical shift; Central nervous system; High field; Medical imagery; Technique; Radiofrequency; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Gradient method; Brain (vertebrata); Signal to noise ratio
• ISSN: 0730-725X; 1873-5894
• DOI: 10.1016/S0730-725X(99)00072-7

A radio frequency (RF) and gradient spoiled fast low angle shot technique was used to acquire images from the human brain at 8 Tesla. The resulting FLASH images, obtained with a 17° nutation, a 70 ms repetition time, and a 17 ms echo time, displayed an average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 220:1 (slice thickness 2.2 mm, field-of-iew 24 cm, matrix 256 × 128). These images were compared with images obtained at 1.5 Tesla using identical parameters yielding a signal-to-noise of less than 10:1. As such, the 8 Tesla images display a remarkable improvement in SNR with increasing field strength. The images also show little evidence of susceptibility distortion, chemical shift, or RF penetration limitations.