Motivation: To demonstrate that ultra-high resolution whole brain MRI acquired at ultra-high field (7T) can be used to acquire mesoscale voxel sizes in ex-vivo samples, using commercially available hardware. Goal(s): To evaluate the impact of RF-shimming methods on image quality in mesoscale MRI, and to acquire ex-vivo imaging with sufficient resolution and SNR to investigate mesoscale pathology. Approach: At 150μm isotropic resolution, RF shimming approaches were compared for their SNR and CoV. Subsequently, high-SNR ex-vivo scanning was achieved by averaging and denoising, and used for neuroradiological reading. Results: Ultra-high resolution MRI enabled the detection and delineation of fine lesions and mesoscale anatomical structures. Impact: Using commercial hardware and overnight scan times, ultra-high resolution MRI at 150μm isotropic voxel size can be acquired with sufficient SNR and image quality to detect and differentiate mesoscale structures
Papp et al. (Tue,) studied this question.