The MINDVIEW project: First results.

We present the first results of the MINDVIEW project. An innovative imaging system for the human brain examination, allowing simultaneous acquisition of PET/MRI images, has been designed and constructed. It consists of a high sensitivity and high resolution PET scanner integrated in a novel, head-dedicated, radio frequency coil for a 3T MRI scanner. Preliminary measurements from the PET scanner show sensitivity 3 times higher than state-of-the-art PET systems that will allow safe repeated studies on the same patient. The achieved spatial resolution, close to 1 mm, will enable differentiation of relevant brain structures for schizophrenia. A cost-effective and simple method of radiopharmaceutical production from 11C-carbon monoxide and a mini-clean room has been demonstrated. It has been shown that 11C-raclopride has higher binding potential in a new VAAT null mutant mouse model of schizophrenia compared to wild type control animals. A significant reduction in TSPO binding has been found in gray matter in a small sample of drug-naïve, first episode psychosis patients, suggesting a reduced number or an altered function of immune cells in brain at early stage schizophrenia.

Time-efficient interleaved human (23)Na and (1)H data acquisition at 7 T.

The aim of this study was to implement and evaluate a flexible and time-efficient interleaved imaging approach for the acquisition of proton and sodium images of the human knee at 7 T within a clinically relevant timescale. A flexible software framework was established which allowed the interleaving of multiple, different, fully specific absorption ratio (SAR)-validated scans. The system was able to switch between these different scans at flexible time points. The practical example presented consists of interleaved proton (Dixon imaging and T2* mapping) and sodium (mapping the sodium content and fluid-suppressed component separately) sequences with the key idea to perform proton MRI whilst the sodium nuclei relax towards thermal equilibrium, and vice versa. Comparisons were made between these four scans being acquired sequentially in the normal mode of scanner operation and those acquired in an interleaved fashion. Images acquired in the interleaved mode were very similar to those acquired in sequential scans with no image artifacts produced by the slight intra-sequence variation in steady-state magnetization. A reduction in scanning time of almost a factor of two was established using the interleaved scans, allowing such a protocol to be completed within 30 min. Phantom experiments and in vivo scans performed in healthy volunteers and in one patient proved the basic feasibility of this approach. This approach for the interleaving of multiple proton and sodium scans, each with different contrasts, is an efficient method for the design of new practical clinical protocols for sodium MRI.

Design and evaluation of a detunable water-based quadrature HEM11 mode dielectric resonator as a new type of volume coil for high field MRI.

An annular dielectric resonator made from distilled water has been designed to operate in degenerate quadrature HEM11 modes at 298.1 MHz (7 Tesla). The circularly polarized B1+ field has a high degree of homogeneity throughout a sample placed within the annulus. The sensitivity of the resonator was measured to be essentially identical to that of an eight-rung high-pass birdcage resonator with the same physical dimensions. High resolution in vivo images have been obtained from the human wrist. A new method of electronically detuning the resonator has also been evaluated. The design is extremely simple and rapid to build, with direct applicability to very high field imaging and also potential integration into human and animal hybrid position emission tomography (PET)/MRI and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/MRI systems due to the lack of conductor attenuation-induced artifacts in the reconstructed nuclear medicine images.