7-Tesla Ultrahigh Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging System

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The Erwin L. Hahn Institute for MR Imaging since 2006 operates a 7-Tesla ultrahigh-field magnetic resonance imaging system for human use. Altogether eight principal investigators and their research groups from different faculties of the two founding Universities of Duisburg-Essen and Nijmegen pursue 7-Tesla research in various areas of neuro sciences and in radiological diagnostics up to body imaging applications. The development and application spectrum ranges from fundamental research to sequence and methods development, to hardware development and finally to the evaluation of new clinical and diagnostic applications of ultrahigh-field magnetic resonance imaging. At installation in 2006, the 7-Tesla magnetic resonance system at the Erwin L. Hahn Institute was the 6th installation worldwide and second in Europe. Numerous pioneering projects and publications in methods and hardware development and first diagnostic applications of human ultrahigh-field magnetic resonance imaging result from this early phase of ultrahigh-field magnetic resonance imaging research at the Erwin L. Hahn Institute. Due to the unique partnership with clinical research partners, about 5500 volunteers and patients have been included into numerous studies and successfully examined in the 13 years of operation. In this proposal, a new 7-Tesla ultrahigh-field magnetic resonance system of the newest generation is applied for to fully replace the today 13-year old UHF MRI system at the Erwin L. Hahn Institute and to update the technical centrepiece of the institute. The new 7-Tesla system comprises an actively shielded magnet with reduced helium consumption, a strong and fast gradient system (80 mT/m, 200 mT/m/ms), 8-channel parallel radiofrequency transmit system technology, a 64-channel radiofrequency receive system and fast host and image reconstruction computers. Furthermore, the most current operating system is installed allowing for compatibility and interchangeability of sequences and methods between the 7-Tesla ultrahigh-field system and the clinical magnetic resonance imaging systems operating at 1.5 and 3.0 Tesla. The new 7-Tesla ultrahigh-field magnetic resonance system is, therefore, an essential precondition for the successful continuation and extension of the research activities of all eight research groups at the Erwin L. Hahn Institute.