[Detection of physiological deposition of iron in the brain using 1.0-T high field MR]

It has been well documented that high field magnetic resonance imaging can detect the location of physiological deposition of iron in the brain; such as in the globus pallidus, red nucleus, substantia nigra and dentate nucleus. The areas depict very low signal intensity in the long TR and the long TE imaging (T2 weighted image), because the iron enhances the T2 relaxation time. The purpose of this study was to determine the detectability of iron deposition in the brain by our 1.0-T high field MR, compared with 1.5-T MR which was used by most authors. We collected 160 MRI cases of the brain, and observed also signal void areas in the basal ganglion, brainstem or cerebellum. Our T2WI was TR 2000-3000 msec, TE 80-120 msec. We found that the 1.0-T MR clearly detected the iron deposition in the globus pallidus, red nucleus, substantia nigra and dentate nucleus of adults, with additional areas in the putamen and caudate nucleus of aged people. Shortcomings of the 1.0-T MRI for detecting iron deposition include: the margin of iron deposition was not very sharp in some cases, and for children under detectability was markedly inferior to the 1.5-T MR.