Opening new horizons with the first human brain in vivo experiments at 11.7T

Motivation: Ultra-high magnetic field MRI offers new opportunities due to its higher SNR and CNR. Goal(s): After receiving the authorization for scanning 20 adult healthy volunteers on the whole-body Iseult MRI scanner, we performed a preliminary MRI investigation to acquire the first brain images at 11.7T. Approach: Using a homemade multi-transmit multi-receive head coil and parallel transmission, 3D anatomical images were acquired with multiple sequences and tissue contrasts at high resolution. Results: In this study, high quality whole brain images acquired at 11.7T on the Iseult MRI scanner are presented for the first time to the MR community. Impact: Showing for the first time in vivo brain images acquired at 11.7T on the whole-body Iseult MRI scanner, this study reveals first potential and challenges of such systems to the ultra-high field MR community.