Michael Zeineh1, Hagen Kitzler2,
Scott Atlas1, Brian Rutt1
1Radiology, Stanford University Medical
Center, Stanford, CA, United States; 2Neuroradiology, Technische
Universitaet Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Beta
amyloid plaques may have a significant role in the development of Alzheimers
disease. MRI has been used to visualize these plaques in humans ex vivo, but
the etiology of the signal changes associated with plaques is unclear. We
imaged 5 human AD specimens and 5 normal specimens at 3.0T and 7.0T with a
3.5 hour bSSFP sequence tailored to visualize plaques. While image SNR was
approximately 1.7 times higher at high field, presumed plaque CNR was three
times higher. This nonlinear increase may be explained by a field-sensitive
microscopic component of amyloid plaques.