Case studies evaluating the enhanced visualization and characterization of brain tumor using multi-contrast MRI at 7T

Motivation: Multi-contrast MRI at 7T can potentially lead to enhanced detection and characterization of brain tumor with unpresented sensitivity and specificity. Goal(s): To evaluate the improvement in tumor boundary, vasculature and hemorrhage detection using a set of complementary MRI sequences at 3T and 7T. Approach: Five brain tumor patients were scanned with multi-contrast MRI protocols at 7T and 3T. All 7T protocols were implemented with submillimeter resolution in similar scan time as the 3T methods. Results: At 7T, high image quality was observed in all the protocols because of high contrast and resolution. This led to improved detection of tumor boundary, vasculature, and hemorrhage. Impact: Multi-contrast ultrahigh field MRI has the potential to non-invasively detect brain tumor in the early stage, provide precise tumor delineation, and visualize tumor-specific processes not seen on conventional MRI.