Acquisition of a 7T human MR system for the development of ultra high resolution

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The development of MR technology has allowed biomedical researchers to make major advances in understanding and treating human disease among the major areas of strength in our MR program are applications to diabetes, epilepsy and image guided surgery, psychiatric disease, and learning disorders. Our progress in these areas has gone hand in hand with the development of MR technology focused on obtaining quantitative images of metabolic fluxes and metabolite levels, and quantitative fMRI measures of blood flow, blood volume and metabolism. All of these measurements put extreme demands on MR sensitivity and spatial resolution. At present the highest resolution and sensitivity achievable in humans is from 7T systems. Based on published studies a 3 fold sensitivity in MRSI and a similar enhancement for quantitative fMRI measures can be achieved. However the application of 7T MR to clinical research has been restricted due to the inability, primarily as a consequence of the increased Bo inhomogeneity, to obtain whole brain distortion free MRSI and fMRI. For example applications of MR to epilepsy, neurodegenerative diseases, and image guided neurosurgical planning requires high quality MRSI and fMRI in regions near the base of the brain such as the hippocampus, where the worst Bo inhomogeneity is present. At present none of the existing 7T systems have presented adequate quality MRS or fMRI in these regions for research purposes much less surgical applications. We feel strongly, based upon our extensive experience developing and applying MR technology to important questions in clinical research, that the several fold higher sensitivity made possible by 7T magnet technology has the potential of greatly advancing the field. Therefore the major goals of this project are to 1) purchase and install a Varian/Magnex 7T 68 system with gradients and shims optimized for whole brain dynamic shimming, 2) develop quantitative whole brain and limb ultra high resolution MRSI and fMRI using dynamic shim updating, Bo and B1 robust pulse sequences, and parallel imaging approaches and 3) apply this technology to allow the programs at Yale in diabetes, epilepsy and image guided neurosurgery, psychiatry, and learning disorders to continue to make important strides in the understanding and treatment of human disease.