Andreas Schfer1, Richard Bowtell2, Robert Turner1
1Department of Neurophysics, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; 2Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Recently, it has been shown that high resolution T2*-weighted images acquired at ultra high field show much more T2* heterogeneity in white matter than at lower field, which alters with the orientation of fibre bundles with respect to the static field. Phase images show high contrast between different compartments. Since phase images reflect susceptibility variations more strongly than magnitude data, we have used phase images at 7 Tesla to address the orientation dependence of GM/WM contrast. Furthermore we compare measurements with simulations based on applying a field calculation to the HUGO body model.