Fast and High-Resolution Intracranial MR Angiography at 7T using FLEXA

Motivation: Non-contrast 3DTOF demonstrates visualizing the cerebral microvasculature at 7T MRI, but the scan time is too long, typically about 10 minutes due to requiring high spatial resolution.Goal(s): Our goal was to reduce the acquisition time by a factor of 2.Approach: We utilize FLEXA on the high gradient performance system at 7T.Results: Comparable image quality to 3DTOF was obtained with FLEXA technique with a factor of 2 decrease in acquisition time.Impact: The improvement in acquisition speed through FLEXA comes from the strategy of short TR with thin slab and opens new standard for scan protocol optimization at 7T MRA.