Ultra-high field MRI (3 teslas and more)

3,0 T vs
1,5 T

Advantages & Applications

Disadvantages & Solutions

SNR

↑

↑ image quality
↑ speed
↑ spatial resolution

↑

T₁

↑ ~

↑ blood/tissue contrast

TOF MRA
↓ Gadolinium doses

↑ TR or ↓ signal
Modification of tissue contrasts

Magnetization preparation (inversion, MP…)

T₂

↓

↑

Drop in signal

↓ TE

SAR

↑↑

↑

RF energy deposited (SAR limit)

Parallel acquisition
↓ flip angle, echo train, number of slices
↑ TR

Chemical shift

↑

↑ differences in resonance frequency

Better fat suppression
Spectroscopy

Chemical shift artifacts

↑ bandwidth
Fat signal suppression
Adaptation of in-phase / out-of-phase TE

Magnetic susceptibility

↑↑

Greater sensitivity to magnetic susceptibility

Better detection of hemorrhages
Perfusion MRI (DSC MRI)
Functional MRI (BOLD)

Magnetic susceptibility artifacts

Parallel acquisition
↓ TE

Dielectric effects

↑

↑

RF heterogeneities, variable signal loss in the image

Optimization of coils,
Parallel RF transmission

Acoustic noise

↑

↑

Vacuum magnet housing
Headphones, gradient downgrade