Calibration & Implementation of Quantitative Blood Oxygenation Measurement at 7T

Lisa C. Krishnamurthy¹, ², Jinsoo Uh¹, Ivan Dimitrov¹, ³, Feng Xu¹, Peiying Liu¹, Kim Kangasniemi¹, Hanzhang Lu¹

Quantification of cerebral venous oxygenation have demonstrated potential utility in normalization of fMRI signals, evaluation of brain metabolism, and understanding brain disorders. To date, all such studies have been performed at the field strength of 3T or lower. Given the field dependence of deoxyhemoglobin susceptibility effects, it is reasonable to expect that 7T may provide an advantage in improving the sensitivity of these techniques. We have established a calibration plot between blood T2 and oxygenation at 7T for various hematocrit levels. We have also implemented a recently developed TRUST MRI technique at 7T and determined venous blood T2 in vivo.