Motivation: Ultra-high-resolution SWI and QSM at 3T are essential for studying the vascular origins of multiple sclerosis lesions. Goal(s): To develop 3T protocol that simultaneously: 1) measures cerebral venous oxygen saturation levels through fully flow-compensated QSM; 2) quantifies medullary vein density (MVD); 3) assesses lesions with a central vein through the SWI-FLAIR; and 4) assesses paramagnetic rim lesions, and grey matter lesions using the high-resolution multi-echo QSM. Approach: We optimized the SUPREME protocol on a 3T MRI (Siemens Cima.X) and compared the MDV with those from conventional SWI on 7 volunteers. Results: The SUPREME-SWI provided excellent visualization of deep medullary veins. Impact: This study demonstrates the imaging capabilities of SUPREME to quantify medullary vein density and venous oxygen saturation, and central vein lesion load which will be used in multiple sclerosis studies.
Truong et al. (Tue,) studied this question.