Ultra High Field MRI at Stanford

by Prof. Brian Rutt (Department of Radiology, Stanford University)

Wednesday 10 Jun 2015, 15:00 → 16:30 Europe/Rome

250 (INFN edificio C)

  Ultra-high-field (UHF) MRI (generally defined as magnetic field strengths greater than 3T) has grown in prevalence (with more than 50 human scanners in existence) and importance. Such high magnetic field strengths promise increased image quality; for example higher spatial resolution or more sensitive detection of subtle structures in normal and diseased tissue. I will review the motivation and history of UHF MRI, and will review some of the research progress and directions at the Stanford Ultra-High-Field Program. I will also discuss some of the difficult physics and engineering challenges that have faced UHF researchers for many years, focusing on the major challenges of decreased image quality resulting from inhomogeneous RF fields, the risks of tissue heating due to increased specific absorption rate, and the increased demands on the gradient system at UHF; I will review our work to address these and other technical challenges.