Ultra-high-resolution brain MRI at 0.55T: bSTAR and its application to magnetization transfer ratio imaging

This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of structural sub-millimeter isotropic brain MRI at 0.55 T using a 3D half-radial dual-echo balanced steady-state free precession sequence, termed bSTAR and to assess its potential for high-resolution magnetization transfer imaging.

Phantom and in-vivo imaging of three healthy volunteers was performed on a low-field 0.55 T MR-system with isotropic bSTAR resolution settings of 0.87 × 0.87 × 0.87 mm³ and 0.69 × 0.69 × 0.69 mm³. Furthermore, off-resonance mapping was performed using 3D double-echo spoiled gradient imaging. For magnetization transfer (MT) MRI, the RF pulse duration of the 0.87 mm bSTAR scan was modified. Data were reconstructed using a GPU-accelerated compressed sensing algorithm. Magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) maps were calculated from two bSTAR scans with and without RF pulse prolongation. The MTR scan took 5 minutes and the reproducibility was assessed through repeated scans.

Off-resonance mapping revealed that bSSFP brain imaging with TR < 5ms is essentially free of off-resonance-related artifacts even near the nasal cavities. Phantom and in-vivo scans demonstrated the feasibility of sub-millimeter isotropic bSTAR imaging. MTR maps obtained with high isotropic resolution bSTAR showed contrast between white and gray matter in agreement with expectations from high-field studies. The MTR measurements were highly reproducible with an average inter-scan MTR peak value of 43.3 ± 0.3 percent units.

This study demonstrated the potential of sub-millimeter and artifact-free morphologic brain imaging at 0.55 T using bSTAR leveraging the advantages of low-field MRI, such as reduced susceptibility artifacts and improved radio-frequency field homogeneity. Furthermore, MT-sensitized bSTAR brain MRI enabled whole-brain MTR assessment within clinically feasible times and with high reproducibility.