Cerebral magnetic resonance: comparison of high and low field strength imaging.

Abstract

Low field strength (0.12 Tesla resistive) and high field strength (1.0, 1.4, or 1.5 Tesla superconductive) magnetic resonance imagers were compared for their ability to detect central nervous system lesions. Adult patients (16) with known lesions and 3 normal volunteers were studied. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography was used as the standard. Evidently, imaging at high magnetic field strength is superior to low field strength imaging for the detection and delineation of lesions. This finding can be explained by the superior signal-to-noise ratio achievable at the higher magnetic field strengths. High field MR imaging was also found to outperform CT [computed tomography] in demonstrating anatomic details and relationships. The use of low saturation (e.g., long TR spin echo technique) should make the gain in contrast-to-noise ratio even more significant.