Stefan Maderwald1,2, Kai Nassenstein,
12, Stephan Orzada1,2, Lena C. Schfer1,2, Mark
Oehmigen1, Andreas K. Bitz1,2, Oliver Kraff1,2,
Irina Brote1,2, Susanne C. Ladd1,2, Mark E. Ladd1,2,
Harald H. Quick1,3
1Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic
Resonance Imaging, Essen, Germany; 2Department of Diagnostic and Interventional
Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany; 3Institute
of Medical Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nrnberg,
Erlangen, Germany
Increased
SNR and enhanced soft tissue contrasts are anticipated for 7T high-field MRI
in comparison to 1.5T. The expected increases in SNR and CNR are of
particular interest for high-resolution cardiac MR applications in humans.
After addressing some of the 7T related transmit/receive problems, five
healthy volunteers were imaged at 1.5T and 7T to measure and to compare SNR
and CNR of cardiac function sequences along the short axis. It can be
concluded that with the demonstrated increases in SNR and CNR, 7T cardiac
function MRI with spoiled gradient echo at 7T outperforms cardiac function
MRI with SSFP at 1.5T.