T2-Weighted intracranial vessel wall imaging at 7 Tesla using a DANTE-prepared variable flip angle turbo spin echo readout (DANTE-SPACE).

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

To optimize intracranial vessel wall imaging (VWI) at 7T for sharp wall depiction and high boundary contrast.

Methods

A variable flip angle turbo spin echo scheme (SPACE) was optimized for VWI. SPACE provides black-blood contrast, but has less crushing effect on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). However, a delay alternating with nutation for tailored excitation (DANTE) preparation suppresses the signal from slowly moving spins of a few mm per second. Therefore, we optimized a DANTE-preparation module for 7T. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and signal ratio for vessel wall, CSF, and lumen were calculated for SPACE and DANTE-SPACE in 11 volunteers at the middle cerebral artery (MCA). An exemplar MCA stenosis patient was scanned with DANTE-SPACE.

SUBMITTER: Viessmann O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5298018 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature