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The Bloch-Siegert (B-S) B1+ mapping technique is a fast, phase-based method that is highly SAR limited especially at 7T, necessitating the use of long repetition times. Spiral and echo-planar readouts were incorporated in a gradient-echo based B-S sequence to reduce specific absoprtion rate (SAR) and improve its scan efficiency. A novel, numerically optimized 4 ms B-S off-resonant pulse at + 1960 Hz was used to increase sensitivity and further reduce SAR compared with the conventional 6 ms Fermi B-S pulse. Using echo-planar and spiral readouts, scan time reductions of 8-16 were achieved. By reducing the B-S pulse width by a factor of 1.5, SAR was reduced by a factor of 1.5 and overall sensitivity was increased by a factor of 1.33 due to the nearly halved resonance offset of the new B-S pulse. This was validated on phantoms and volunteers at 7 T. Magn Reson Med 70:1669-1673, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The medial temporal lobe (MTL) is the first brain area to succumb to neurofibrillary tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Postmortem human tissue evaluation suggests that this pathology propagates in an ordered manner, with the entorhinal cortex (ERC) and then CA1 stratum radiatum and stratum lacunosum-moleculare (CA1-SRLM)--two monosynaptically connected structures--exhibiting selective damage. Here, we hypothesized that, if ERC and CA1-SRLM share an early vulnerability to AD pathology, then atrophy should occur in a proportional manner between the two structures. We tested this hypothesis in living humans, using ultra-high field 7.0 T MRI to make fine measurements of MTL microstructure. Among a pool of age-matched healthy controls and patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment and mild AD, we found a significant correlation between ERC and CA1-SRLM size that could not be explained by global atrophy affecting the MTL. Of the various structures that contribute axons or dendrites into the CA1-SRLM neuropil, only ERC emerged as a significant predictor of CA1-SRLM size in a linear regression analysis. In contrast, other synaptically connected elements of the MTL did not exhibit size correlations. CA1-SRLM and ERC structural covariance was significant for older controls and not patients, whereas the opposite pattern emerged for a correlation between CA1-SRLM and episodic memory performance. Interestingly, CA1-SRLM and ERC were the only MTL structures to atrophy in older controls relative to a younger comparison group. Together, these findings suggest that ERC and CA1-SRLM share vulnerability to both age and AD-associated atrophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To present a new method that can simultaneously and efficiently measure T1 and B1+ maps using reference region variable flip angle (RR-VFA) imaging. Methods Assuming T1 relaxation time in a reference region such as fat is well characterized, and the reference region sufficiently covers smoothly varying B1+ field inhomogeneity, B1+ maps can be measured from VFA images, conventionally used for T1 measurements. Fat-only images from two-point Dixon acquisitions were used to compute B1+ maps, and the B1+ maps were compared with ones using the double-angle method (DAM) in 22 breast MRI patients at 3T. Additionally, high spatial resolution VFA images were acquired to show T1 measurements with and without the RR-VFA B1+ correction in six patients. Results RR-VFA is able to generate reliable B1+ maps, similar to those using the conventional DAM. This simultaneous T1 and B1+ mapping can also be used to reduce T1 estimation errors, where T1 maps have more uniform fibroglandular tissue T1 and better depiction of heterogeneous T1 of breast masses. Conclusion A new method that can measure both T1 and B1+ maps based on Dixon VFA images is described, offering improved T1 quantification with no scan time penalty. Magn Reson Med, 70:954-961, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Investigating differential vulnerability of thalamic nuclei in multiple sclerosis (MS)., Methods: In a secondary analysis of prospectively collected datasets, we pooled 136 patients with MS or clinically isolated syndrome and 71 healthy controls all scanned with conventional 3D-T1 and white-matter-nulled magnetization-prepared rapid gradient echo (WMn-MPRAGE) and tested for cognitive performance. T1-based thalamic segmentation was compared with the reference WMn-MPRAGE method. Volumes of thalamic nuclei were compared according to clinical phenotypes and cognitive profile., Results: T1- and WMn-MPRAGE provided comparable segmentations (0.84 ± 0.13 < volume-similarity-index < 0.95 ± 0.03). Medial and posterior thalamic groups were significantly more affected than anterior and lateral groups. Cognitive impairment related to volume loss of the anterior group., Conclusion: Thalamic nuclei closest to the third ventricle are more affected, with cognitive consequences.

Background: Investigating the degeneration of specific thalamic nuclei in multiple sclerosis (MS) remains challenging., Methods: White-matter-nulled (WMn) MPRAGE, MP-FLAIR, and standard T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were performed on MS patients ( n  = 15) and matched controls ( n  = 12). Thalamic lesions were counted in individual sequences and lesion contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) was measured. Volumes of 12 thalamic nuclei were measured using an automatic segmentation pipeline specifically developed for WMn-MPRAGE., Results: WMn-MPRAGE showed more thalamic MS lesions ( n  = 35 in 9 out of 15 patients) than MP-FLAIR ( n  = 25) and standard T1 ( n  = 23), which was associated with significant improvement of CNR ( p  < 0.0001). MS patients had whole thalamus atrophy ( p  = 0.003) with lower volumes found for the anteroventral ( p  < 0.001), the pulvinar ( p  < 0.0001), and the habenular ( p  = 0.004) nuclei., Conclusion: WMn-MPRAGE and automatic thalamic segmentation can highlight thalamic MS lesions and measure patterns of focal thalamic atrophy.

The Bloch-Siegert (B-S) B1 (+) mapping technique is a fast, phase-based method that is highly SAR limited especially at 7T, necessitating the use of long repetition times. Spiral and echo-planar readouts were incorporated in a gradient-echo based B-S sequence to reduce specific absoprtion rate (SAR) and improve its scan efficiency. A novel, numerically optimized 4 ms B-S off-resonant pulse at + 1960 Hz was used to increase sensitivity and further reduce SAR compared with the conventional 6 ms Fermi B-S pulse. Using echo-planar and spiral readouts, scan time reductions of 8-16 were achieved. By reducing the B-S pulse width by a factor of 1.5, SAR was reduced by a factor of 1.5 and overall sensitivity was increased by a factor of 1.33 due to the nearly halved resonance offset of the new B-S pulse. This was validated on phantoms and volunteers at 7 T., (Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)