Detection of Cerebral Microbleeds with Dual Echo T2*-Weighted MR Imaging at 7.0 Tesla

Mandy Conijn¹, Mirjam Geerlings, Peter Luijten, Jaco Zwanenburg, Jeroen Hendrikse

The interest in microbleeds is increasing, however, prevalence estimates differ substantially between studies, due to differences in image protocols and field strengths. This study assessed the visualization of cerebral microbleeds with dual-echo T2*-weighted imaging at 7T MRI in ten patients with vascular disease. The first echo images showed a large contrast between microbleeds and the surrounding tissue. On the second echo images microbleeds were larger in size, but some were not visible due to overlap with structures with a high susceptibility. Dual-echo T2*-weighted imaging combines the advantages of the first and second echo time for the visualization of microbleeds at 7T.