Jh. Lee et al., HIGH-CONTRAST AND FAST 3-DIMENSIONAL MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING AT HIGH FIELDS, Magnetic resonance in medicine, 34(3), 1995, pp. 308-312
A new three-dimensional imaging strategy based on magnetization prepar
ed ultrafast gradient recalled echo technique that demonstrates pronou
nced T-1 contrast at high fields is introduced, High-resolution three-
dimensional image sets of human brain showing high contrast between wh
ite and gray matter areas are presented, The ratio of contrast-to-nois
e was examined as a function of the relevant parameters in the imaging
sequence; calculations based on high-field T-1 values as well as the
experimental data demonstrated that maximal contrast-to-noise ratio is
attained under the same magnetization preparation conditions both for
cortical and subcortical gray matter relative to white matter, leadin
g to approximately equivalent appearance of all gray matter areas in t
he same image. In addition, the images displayed clear visualization o
f subtle anatomical structures such as the subthalamic nuclei (ventral
tier nuclei, dorsomedial nucleus, and pulvinar) and mammillothalamic
tracts.