Visualization of intra-thalamic nuclei with optimized white-matter-nulled MPRAGE at 7T.

ABSTRACT: Novel MR image acquisition strategies have been investigated to elicit contrast within the thalamus, but direct visualization of individual thalamic nuclei remains a challenge because of their small size and the low intrinsic contrast between adjacent nuclei. We present a step-by-step specific optimization of the 3D MPRAGE pulse sequence at 7T to visualize the intra-thalamic nuclei. We first measured T1 values within different sub-regions of the thalamus at 7T in 5 individuals. We used these to perform simulations and sequential experimental measurements (n=17) to tune the parameters of the MPRAGE sequence. The optimal set of parameters was used to collect high-quality data in 6 additional volunteers. Delineation of thalamic nuclei was performed twice by one rater and MR-defined nuclei wer

SUBMITTER: Tourdias T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3927795 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature