Abstract #2058

Dynamic Contrast Enhanced MRI of the Brain at 7T

Lars Gerigk¹, Hendrik Laue², Lydia Schuster¹, Thomas Hauser¹, Ann-Kathrin Homagk³, Armin Nagel³, Marco Essig¹, Heinz-Peter Schlemmer¹, Michael Bock³

¹Radiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Baden-Wrttemberg, Germany; ²Institute for Medical Image Computing, Fraunhofer MEVIS, Bremen, Germany; ³Medical Physics in Radiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Baden-Wrttemberg, Germany

Since vascularization is essential in tumors, analyzing the amount and distribution of tissue perfusion is important to understand tumor growth and to monitor therapies. At lower field strengths, DCE-MRI has been used successfully to quantify permeability and flow, but has been limited in spatial resolution. To make use of the higher signal strength, we adapted this technique to a 7 T whole body system and applied it to patients with brain tumors. Due to the high spatial resolution at 7 T, tumor heterogeneity can be visualized.