title: GRAPPA-based susceptibility-weighted imaging of normal volunteers and patients with brain tumor at 7 T.
abstract: Susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) is a valuable technique for high-resolution imaging of brain vasculature that greatly benefits from the emergence of higher field strength MR scanners. Autocalibrating partially parallel imaging techniques can be employed to reduce lengthy acquisition times as long as the decrease in signal-to-noise ratio does not significantly affect the contrast between vessels and brain parenchyma. This study assessed the feasibility of a Generalized Autocalibrating Partially Parallel Acquisition (GRAPPA)-based SWI technique at 7 T in both healthy volunteers and brain tumor patients. GRAPPA-based SWI allowed a twofold or more reduction in scan time without compromising vessel contrast and small vessel detection. Postprocessing parameters for the SWI needed to be modified for patients where the tumor causes high-frequency phase wrap artifacts but did not adversely affect vessel contrast. GRAPPA-based SWI at 7 T revealed regions of microvascularity, hemorrhage and calcification within heterogeneous brain tumors that may aid in characterizing active or necrotic tumor and monitoring treatment effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Surbeck Laboratory of Advanced Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158-2532, USA. janinel@radiology.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Janine M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lupo
authors.forename: Suchandrima
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.forename: Kathryn E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Hammond
authors.forename: Douglas A C
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Kelley
authors.forename: Duan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Daniel B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Vigneron
authors.forename: Sharmila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Majumdar
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Nelson
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity