Jennifer E. Dixon1, Ashley I. Simpson2, Niraj Mistry2, Nikos Evangelou2, Peter G. Morris1
1Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom; 2Academic Division of Clinical Neurology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom
7T T2*-weighted MRI has been shown to allow differentiation between MS lesions and microangiopathic white-matter (WM) lesions by the presence of a visible vein, and accurately predicts eventual diagnosis in patients who were otherwise unable to be diagnosed without further testing; however, the limited availability of 7T systems necessitates the translation of this technique to lower field. The aim of this work is to increase its sensitivity at 3T and 7T, and to compare the optimised sequences theoretically and experimentally in order to quantify the benefit of imaging at higher field, and to enable its use at clinical field strengths.