In vivo magnetic resonance imaging of the human cervical spinal cord at 3 Tesla.
OBJECTIVE
To demonstrate the feasibility of obtaining high-quality magnetic resonance (MR) images of the human cervical spinal cord in vivo at a magnetic field strength of 3 T and to optimize the signal contrast between gray matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) on 2D gradient recalled echo (GRE) images of the cervical spinal cord.


METHODS
Using a custom-built, anatomically molded radio frequency (RF) surface coil, the repetition time and flip angle of a 2D GRE sequence were systematically varied in five volunteers to assess tissue contrast in the cervical spinal cord.


RESULTS
The 2D GRE parameters for an optimal balance between gray-white matter and CSF-white matter contrast at 3 T were determined to be a time-to-repetition (TR) of 2000 msec and a flip angle of 45 degrees, with the constant short time-to-echo (TE) of 12 msec used in this study. Excellent tissue contrast and visualization of the internal anatomy of the spinal cord was demonstrated reproducibly in eight subjects using these optimal parameters.


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates that imaging the cervical spinal cord and delineating internal spinal cord structures such as gray and white matter is feasible at 3 T.
Korzan
Jeffrey R
JR
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Gorassini
Monica
M
Emery
Derek
D
Taher
Zaki A
ZA
Beaulieu
Christian
C
D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D013118:Spinal Cord Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis