title: High signal-to-noise FLASH imaging at 8 Tesla.
abstract: 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 degrees 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-view 24 cm, matrix 256 x 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus 43210, USA.
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Burgess
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Abduljalil
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kangarlu
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Robitaille
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D012016:Reference Values