Invited Speaker Australian & New Zealand Society of Magnetic Resonance Conference 2017

Advances in Multimodal Imaging in Humans at 3T and 9.4T (#46)

N. Jon Shah 1
  1. Research Centre Juelich GmbH, Juelich, NRW, Germany

We explore the potential of simultaneous multimodal MR-PET-EEG data in humans at 3T and 9.4T providing a platform for metabolic brain imaging. We demonstrate that the three modalities are complementary, with MRI having the potential to provide excellent structural and functional imaging, PET providing quantitative molecular imaging, and EEG providing superior temporal resolution. A 9.4T MRI scanner equipped with a PET insert and a commercially available EEG device were used to acquire in vivo proton-based images, spectra, and sodium- and oxygen-based images with MRI; EEG signals from a human subject in a static 9.4T magnetic field; and demonstrate hybrid MR-PET capability in a rat model. High-resolution images of the in vivo human brain with an isotropic resolution of 0.5mm and post mortem brain images of the cerebellum with an isotropic resolution of 320µm will be presented. A 1H spectrum was also acquired from 2x2x2mm voxel in the brain allowing 12 metabolites to be identified.  Imaging based on sodium and oxygen will be demonstrated with isotropic resolutions of 2mm and 5mm, respectively. Preliminary data from auditory evoked potentials measured in a static field of 9.4T will also be shown.  Finally, hybrid MR-PET capability at 9.4T in the human scanner will be demonstrated in a rat model. Initial progress on the road to 9.4 T multimodal MR-PET-EEG will be illustrated. Ultra-high resolution structural imaging, high-resolution images of the sodium distribution and proof-of-principle 17O data will be presented. Further, simultaneous MR-PET data without artefacts and EEG data acquired at 9.4 T will be shown.