Magnetic resonance in medicine : official journal of the Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
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Thalamic nuclei are largely invisible in conventional MRI due to poor contrast. Thalamus Optimized Multi-Atlas Segmentation (THOMAS) provides automatic segmentation of 12 thalamic nuclei using white-matter-nulled (WMn) Magnetization Prepared Rapid Gradient Echo (MPRAGE) sequence at 7T, but increases overall scan duration. Routinely acquired, bias-corrected Magnetization Prepared 2 Rapid Gradient Echo (MP2RAGE) sequence yields superior tissue contrast and quantitative T1 maps. Application of THOMAS to MP2RAGE has been investigated in this study. ⋯ THOMAS algorithm can successfully segment thalamic nuclei in MP2RAGE images with essentially equivalent quality as WMn-MPRAGE, widening its applicability in studies focused on thalamic involvement in aging and disease.
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To describe an approach for detection of respiratory signals using a transmitted radiofrequency (RF) reference signal called Pilot-Tone (PT) and to use the PT signal for creation of motion-resolved images based on 3D stack-of-stars imaging under free-breathing conditions. ⋯ PT is a novel concept for tracking respiratory motion. Its small dimension (8 cm), high sampling rate, and minimal interaction with the imaging scan offers great potential for resolving respiratory motion.
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Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) abnormalities have been implicated in a range of neuropsychiatric disorders. Despite substantial interest in probing GABA in vivo, human imaging studies relying on magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) have generally been hindered by technical challenges, including GABA's relatively low concentration and spectral overlap with other metabolites. Although past studies have shown moderate-to-strong test-retest repeatability and reliability of GABA within certain brain regions, many of these studies have been limited by small sample sizes. ⋯ The present study found excellent GABA+ MRS repeatability and reliability in the dlPFC. The rACC showed inferior results, possibly because of a combination of shimming impedance and measurement error. These data suggest that MEGA-PRESS can be utilized to reliably distinguish participants based on dlPFC GABA+ levels, whereas the mixed results in the rACC merit further investigation.
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Free-breathing R 2 ∗ mapping of hepatic iron overload in children using 3D multi-echo UTE cones MRI.
To enable motion-robust, ungated, free-breathing R 2 ∗ mapping of hepatic iron overload in children with 3D multi-echo UTE cones MRI. ⋯ Golden-ratio re-ordered 3D multi-echo UTE Cones MRI enabled motion-robust, ungated, and free-breathing R 2 ∗ mapping of hepatic iron overload, with comparable R 2 ∗ measurements and image quality to BH Cartesian, and better image quality than FB Cartesian.