Intracranial hematomas studied by MR imaging at 0.17 and 0.02 T

The contrast in magnetic resonance (MR) images relies mainly on the relaxation time differences between the tissues. The relative differences in relaxation times T1 are bigger at lower field strengths, although the absolute values of T1 are smaller. A shorter T1 is also advantageous for the contrast of the T2 and proton density weighted images because of the more complete recovery of the spin system during the repetition time TR. Scrutiny of the clinical results of MR shows some unsolved problems in the specificity of diagnosing fresh intracranial hematomas. Low field MR imaging at 0.02 T seems to offer new vistas in this sense. Fresh subdural hematoma was more easily detected and differentiated at 0.02 T than at 0.17 T. The T2 of fresh intracranial hematomas was rather short compared with cerebrospinal fluid and edema and, unlike T1, was not highly dependent on magnetic field strength. The different visualization of acute versus late intracerebral hematoma and the changes during the resorption were demonstrated in follow-up studies of two patients at 0.17 T and of one at 0.02 T. In one patient the same lesion was imaged successively at both field strengths, showing the divergent contrast in the inversion recovery images at 0.02 and 0.17 T.