• R Röttgen, K Haltaufderheide, R J Schröder, M Lorenz, H Herzog, F Neumann, L Lehmkuhl, L Winter, R Felix, and H Bruhn.
• Klinik für Strahlenheilkunde, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. rainer.roettgen@charite.de
• Rofo. 2005 Apr 1; 177 (4): 530-5.

PurposeComparison of MR images acquired as routine examinations at a field strength of 3.0 T and 1.5 T to determine whether and to which degree the image quality improves at the higher field strength of 3.0 T.Materials And MethodsRoutine MR images of 200 patients were examined retrospectively, with 100 images obtained at 1.5 T and 100 obtained at 3.0 T. The examinations were performed with a quadrature head coil and focused on the basal cisterns because of the abundance of small distinct structures in this region. We selected the T2-weighted 2D-FSE sequence in transverse direction for comparison. At both field strengths, the same section thickness of 5 mm and a matrix of 512 x 388 (FOV: 220 mm) were used. The quality of the images was evaluated with regard to depicting the cranial nerves N. III, V - X, the AICA and PICA. For comparison, image quality was rated with a score from 1 (well defined) to 5 (not depicted).ResultsA score of 1 was obtained in 46 % of the anatomic structures examined at 3.0 T and in only 9.2 % at 1.5 T. A score of 2 was given in 27.6 % of the anatomic structures at 3.0 T vs. 23.5 % at 1.5 T, a score of 3 in 17.2 % vs. 28.1 %, a score of 4 in 8.6 % vs. 28.7 %, and a score of 5 in 0.4 % vs. 10.3 %, respectively. The Mann-Whitney U test showed significance at p < 0.001 for the comparison of images at 1.5 and 3.0 Tesla.ConclusionRoutine magnetic resonance imaging using the same quadrature coil technique and similar acquisition times at 3.0 T and 1.5 T shows an improvement for T2-weighted images at the higher field strength.

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