Eur Radiol (2005) 15: 946959

DOI 10.1007/s00330-005-2678-0

Fritz Schick

Received: 22 December 2004

Revised: 7 January 2005
Accepted: 11 January 2005
Published online: 27 January 2005
# Springer-Verlag 2005

F. Schick (*)
Section of Experimental Radiology,
Department of Diagnostic Radiology,
Eberhard Karls University of Tbingen,
Tbingen, Germany
e-mail: fritz.schick@med.unituebingen.de

MAGN ETIC RE SONA NCE

Whole-body MRI at high field: technical limits

and clinical potential

Abstract This review seeks to clarify

the most important implications of
higher magnetic field strength for
clinical examinations of the whole
body. An overview is provided on the
resulting advantages and disadvantages for anatomical, functional and
biochemical magnetic resonance examinations in different regions of the
body. It is demonstrated that susceptibility-dependent imaging, chemical
shift selective (e.g., fat-suppressed)
imaging, and spectroscopic techniques clearly gain from higher field
strength. Problems due to shorter
wavelength and higher radio frequency energy deposition at higher
field strength are reported, especially
in examinations of the body trunk.
Thorax examinations provided sufficient homogeneity of the radio frequency field for common examination
techniques in most cases, whereas

Introduction
In the past 2 decades technical development of clinical
magnetic resonance (MR) units was extremely fast. Meanwhile, modern standard whole-body MR systems operating at 1.5 T provide high image quality in morphological
and functional clinical examinations of all body regions in
reasonable measuring times. However, further increased
spatial resolution and shorter examination times remain
desirable in order to improve diagnostic sensitivity and
specificity of MR examinations.
In the early days of whole-body MR systems the construction of supraconducting magnets with high spatial and
temporal homogeneity played an important role, but as

abdominal and pelvic imaging was

often hampered by undesired dielectric effects. Currently available and
potential future strategies to overcome
related limitations are discussed.
Whole-body MRI at higher field
strength currently leads to clearly
improved image quality using a variety of established sequence types and
for examination of many body regions. But some major problems at
higher field strength have to be solved
before high-field magnetic resonance
systems can really replace the wellestablished and technically developed
magnetic resonance systems operating
at 1.5 T for each clinical application.
Keywords Magnetic resonance
imaging . Magnetic resonance
spectroscopy . High-field magnetic
resonance imaging . Whole-body
imaging . Dielectric effects

early as 1985 magnets with a field strength of 1.5 T were

available even for commercial clinical MR imaging systems. Between 1985 and 1995 great effort was made to
develop faster gradient systems and new sequence types
became feasible using those gradient systems. Unfortunately, biological effects of nerve stimulation prevent a
further increase in gradient slew rates for whole-body
examinations. The past 5 years were dominated by developments of multiple receiver coil systems allowing
one to simultaneously record MR data from large body
regions with high sensitivity. Even systems with up to 32
parallel receiver channels and more than 70 single coils
covering the entire body are now offered commercially
for fast whole-body examinations without the necessity

947

to reposition the patient in the scanner manually. Additionally, the presence of multiple receiver coils was found
to be useful for improvement of spatial resolution or
shortening of measuring times. So-called parallel imaging
strategies [13] can clearly reduce the number of phaseencoding steps at the expense of a slightly decreased signal-to-noise ratio. There are still possibilities to further
improve MR examinations in the future using multiple coil
systems and parallel imaging applications; however, the
size of the single coils must not be chosen too small, since
sensitivity to regions deep in the body gets worse for
smaller coils [4]. This phenomenon restricts the possible
number of single receiver coils and the corresponding
saving of examination time by parallel imaging. An extreme increase in signal yield or noise suppression from
new receiver systems cannot be expected in the near future
for units operating at magnetic fields up to 1.5 T.
Parallel imaging techniques would allow the recording of
even large 3D data sets in relatively short measuring times,
but the signal-to-noise ratios in the resulting images are
often insufficient if high spatial resolution is selected. For
this reason the main limitation in high-resolution MRI is
now the signal yield per volume compared with the noise
level. Parallel imaging has also paved the way to highly
resolved imaging of the body trunk in very short measuring
times, allowing even non-ECG-triggered examinations of
the heart. However, those applications are also limited by
the relatively low signal-to-noise ratio achievable on common MR units operating at 1.5 T.
For a long period of nearly 2 decades progress in MRI
took place at a nearly constant magnetic field strength of
1.5 T. Since developments of gradient and receiver systems
are now considered to be close to the borders of feasibility,
the problem of low signal yield can only be solved by
increasing the field strength. In addition, high-field animal
scanners have shown excellent results with extremely high
spatial resolution [5] and are supportive for further developments of human scanners with higher fields.
Human neuroscience groups have already demonstrated
clear advantages of higher field strength in blood oxygen
level dependent (BOLD) studies of brain activity using
high-field systems mostly operating at field strengths of
34 T [6, 7]. Prototype MR head scanners (or small-bore
whole-body units) with extremely high magnetic field
strengths of 79.4 T showed further improved functional
MRI (fMRI) and spectroscopic results from human examinations with small receiver coils from brain areas near the
scull [8, 9], but no high-quality images covering the entire
human head were reported from such ultra-high MR
systems.
Only a few reports on preclinical or clinical whole-body
applications at 3 T or more have been published [1032].
By this review the author intends to provide a comprehensive overview of relevant technical aspects gaining
more and more importance for increasing field strength,
their implications for various MRI techniques and spec-

troscopy, and experiences with clinical examinations at 3 T

in different body regions.

MR physics at higher field strength

Several properties relevant for whole-body examinations
change with increasing static magnetic field strength.
These are discussed in the following sections.
Signal-to-noise ratio
Spin polarisation of nuclei in an outer magnetic field
depends linearly on the static magnetic field strength. For a
sample containing 1 million nuclear hydrogen (1H) spins at
37C in a magnetic field of 1.5 T the population difference
between the parallel and antiparallel spins is only approximately five spins in the equilibrium state. At 3 T this
population difference is doubled and amounts to approximately ten spins out of 1 million. This increased magnetisation (in the equilibrium) provides increased signal
intensity after RF excitation, whereas noise contributions
remain nearly uninfluenced by the field strength. Under
comparable conditions regarding further imaging parameters the increase in the signal-to-noise ratio can be used to
measure smaller volumes with the same quality in the same
measuring time (doubled field strength allows halved pixel
volumes), or to record images with unchanged spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio in reduced measuring time
(doubled field strength allows one to acquire only one
instead of four scans and therefore quartered measuring
time, under ideal conditions).
Larmor frequency and corresponding wavelength
The Larmor frequencies of all types of nuclei increase linearly with the applied static field strength, with the proportionality constant being dependent on the sort of nuclei.
For higher magnetic field strengths, the applied RF for
excitation of nuclear magnetisation must be adapted, and
the MR signal shows a higher frequency as well. Since the
propagation velocity of electromagnetic waves is (nearly)
independent of the frequency, the wavelength gets shorter
at higher field. Table 1 shows field-dependent wavelengths
in air and in water for 1H and some further biologically
important nuclei. The wavelength of the RF at the 1H
Larmor frequency at 3 T in the medium water is similar
to the dimensions of the body trunk in axial sections
as demonstrated in Fig. 1. These dimensions have to be
considered, since modern scanners use RF excitation perpendicular to the body axis. The smaller wavelength inside
the body at higher field strength leads regionally to negative

948

Table 1 Radio frequency wavelength in air and in water for several

biologically important nuclei at 1.5, 3 and 7 T

Chemical shift effects

Field strength Nucleus Wavelength in air

(T)
(cm)

The chemical shift results from partial shielding of the

outer magnetic field at the location of the nuclei by the
electron sheath of the molecules. This shielding effect is
proportional to the field strength of the outer static field.
This means that the Larmor frequency difference between
nuclei with different chemical bonds increases linearly
with the applied magnetic field. For example, the chemical
shift difference between water signals and methylene
signals (dominating signals from fatty acids and triglycerides) amounts to approximately 220 Hz at 1.5 T, but is
increased to 440 Hz at 3 T.
Line dispersion in MR spectra results from the chemical
shift effect and is usually displayed using a parts per
million scale to achieve a field-independent presentation.
However, demonstration of spectra on a frequency scale
leads to the mentioned field-dependent effects as shown in
the example of muscle spectra in Fig. 2. If the homogeneity of the static field inside the tissue is very high the
linewidth in the spectra (measured in hertz) is only dependent on the transverse relaxation time T2, and is not
markedly dependent on the field strength. On the other
hand, line broadening by susceptibility-related effects tends
to increase proportionally with the applied field strength
(e.g., extramyocellular lipids signal in Fig. 2).

1.5

H
C
23
Na
31
P
1
H
13
C
23
Na
31
P
1
H
13
C
23
Na
31
P
13

3.0

7.0

470
1,870
1,780
1,160
235
940
890
580
100
400
380
250

Wavelength in water
(cm)
52
210
200
129
26
105
100
64
11
45
42
28

interferences of superimposed RF waves which start to

move into the body from each point on the body surface
[33]. Further RF effects might arise from induced eddy
currents in conductive parts of the body. Altogether, marked
inhomogeneities of the RF field (and therefore locally
irregular flip angles) occur in the body. Even nearly
complete cancellation of RF excitation might occur in parts
of the abdomen or pelvis at 3 T. To further increase the field
strength up to 7 T, the wavelength for 1H excitation goes
down to approximately 11 cm (Fig. 1), and the mentioned
so-called dielectric effects with spatially inhomogeneous
excitation are not restricted to the body trunk. At those
extremely high field strengths markedly inhomogeneous
RF field distributions occur in the head and in lower
extremities as well.
RF energy deposition
The RF field used for spin excitation does not only affect
the orientation of nuclear magnetisation, but it also interacts with the ions and molecules in the tissue. The RF
field induces acceleration of the ions and rotational movement of the molecules. The absorbed energy results in an
undesired heating up of tissue. Since higher frequencies
must be applied at higher field strength to fit to the resonance conditions of nuclear magnetisation, field fluctuations by the RF field are clearly faster, and more energy is
transmitted and absorbed by the tissue for a given amplitude of the RF field. This effect increases nearly quadratically with frequency. This means that at 3 T a distinct
excitation (e.g., a 90 pulse with a certain envelope in the
time domain) is combined with a roughly fourfold energy
deposition in the tissue (in terms of the specific absorption
rate, SAR) compared with at 1.5 T.

Relaxation times
The longitudinal relaxation times T1 of most tissues are
significantly longer at higher field strength; however, this
prolongation is tissue-dependent and influences the contrast behaviour in T1-weighted imaging. Several publications comparing relaxation times between 1.5 and 3.0 T
[3436] have reported changes between 5% for skeletal
musculature and nearly 40% for white matter in brain and
liver.
Transverse relaxation times T2 have been reported to be
less dependent on field strength and mostly slightly reduced. Only changes in the range 510% have been found
for most organs.
Sequences with T2* weighting are markedly influenced
by the field strength, since those sequences are sensitive to
microscopic field inhomogeneities due to tissue susceptibility. However, this is not really a relaxation effect and is
therefore reported in the Susceptibility effects section of
this article.
Susceptibility effects
All paramagnetic and diamagnetic tissue compartments as
well as implanted metallic structures lead to magnetic field
distortions inside those materials and in their surroundings. The induced field distortions are proportional to the

949

1.0 Tesla:
1.5 Tesla:
3.0 Tesla:
7.0 Tesla:

H2O

H2O

H2O

H2O

= 79 cm
= 52 cm
= 26 cm
= 11 cm

Fig. 1 RF wavelength (according to the 1H Larmor frequency) in the medium water for several common field strengths. The wavelengths
are compared with body dimensions.

applied outer magnetic field strength, as long as no ferromagnetic materials are involved. This statement is valid
on a microscopic and on a macroscopic scale. Microscopic
magnetic field inhomogeneities inside picture elements
increase linearly with field strength, leading to accordingly
faster dephasing of the contributing frequency components.
This increasingly rapid dephasing for higher field strength
is especially important for tissue types with marked inherent structural inhomogeneities, such as lung tissue or
spongy bone marrow. It should be mentioned that susceptibility-related dephasing of magnetisation due to substances such as deoxyhaemoglobin in the blood (relevant

for BOLD signal effects) or haemosiderin in the liver, and

from administered paramagnetic contrast agents such as Gd
diethylenetriaminopentaacetic acid (DTPA), is also proportional to the applied magnetic field.
The susceptibility effects mainly influence gradientecho-based techniques and echoplanar imaging (so-called
T2*-weighted imaging). It should be mentioned that microscopic field inhomogeneities can also lead to signal
reduction in spin-echo imaging with longer echo times,
since diffusion movements of the spins might hinder full
refocusing of susceptibility-induced phase shifts.

950

EMCL

a
TMA
Cr2

100

IMCL

Cr3

-100
-200
Chem. Shift / Hz

-300
EMCL

b
Cr2

100

echo times in spin-echo sequences, and for narrower echo

spacing in fast spin-echo sequences. Thus, simultaneous
recording of a higher number of slices is possible for a
given repetition time.
Second, the SAR monitor shows clearly higher values at
3 T for the same sequence parameters. Fast spin-echo
sequences are most critical in this respect, since a high
number of 180 refocusing pulses have to be applied. In
many whole-body applications using the body coil for RF
transmission, free parameter selection in multislice fast
spin-echo imaging is restricted by the SAR monitor. It is
necessary to use special RF pulses with longer duration and
lower energy deposition, reduced flip angles, a reduced
number of slices, or a longer repetition time to keep the legal
limits. However, new sequence types working with lower
energy deposition per slice but image quality similar to
conventional fast spin-echo images will help to solve those
problems in the near future [37].

-100

IMCL

TMA Cr
3

-200
-300
Chem. Shift / Hz

-400

-500

-600

Fig. 2 Comparison of 1H spectra of skeletal musculature (m. tibialis

anterior) recorded at 1.5 T (a) and 3 T (b). The chemical shift of the
metabolites (in hertz) is doubled at 3 T. The natural linewidth
(determined by T2) remains nearly unchanged at 3 T. For example,
the linewidth of intramyocellular lipids (IMCL) or creatine (Cr3) is
only slightly broadened by field inhomogeneities. In contrast, line
broadening caused by susceptibility-dependent field inhomogeneities in the tissue (e.g., in extramyocellular lipids, EMCL) is clearly
more pronounced at 3 T. J-coupling and dipolar effects lead to
multiplets of signals with field-dependent amplitude ratios and
phase distortions. These effects are responsible for the differences in
the trimethylammonium (TMA) and Cr2 signals between the
different field strengths.

Implications of changed properties for different examination

techniques
The changes in MR properties just described lead to different implications for the common types of imaging sequences as reported in the following sections.
Standard spin-echo and fast spin-echo imaging
techniques
If spin-echo or fast spin-echo images are recorded at 3 T
using identical sequence parameters as usually applied at
1.5 T, the results will differ in the following aspects.
First, the signal-to-noise ratio is nearly doubled at 3 T,
but the chemical shift artifact (shift of water-containing
tissue relative to fat-containing tissue in the read direction)
is doubled as well (Fig. 3). To compensate for the increased chemical shift artifact at 3 T it is necessary to use a
doubled readout bandwidth, which leads to a significant
reduction in the signal-to-noise ratio. On the other hand,
the higher readout bandwidth allows for shorter minimal

Fig. 3 Chemical shift artifacts and readout bandwidth. Both images

were recorded at 3 T using a spoiled gradient-echo sequence using
repetition time (TR) 120 ms, echo time (TE) 4.8 ms, and flip angle
(fl) 50 with a 144256 matrix at 3 T. a The readout bandwidth was
200 Hz/pixel, which is a common value at 1.5 T, but this bandwidth
leads to distinct chemical shift artifacts at waterfat transitions at
3 T. b An increased readout bandwidth of 400 Hz/pixel provides
acceptable chemical shift artifacts, but the images are noisier.

951

Third, the contrast behaviour is slightly changed owing

to modified relaxation characteristics, especially in T1weighted images. In principle, the reported longer T1 relaxation times can be compensated by the use of longer
repetition times, but not all tissues show the same modification of T1 at higher field strength. For this reason, it is
impossible to obtain exactly the same contrast as known
from images recorded at 1.5 T. Unfortunately, T1-weighted
images often show slightly less contrast between tissues,
since longitudinal relaxation behaviour tends to become
more uniform for different tissue types at higher field
strength [3436]. On the other hand, T2-weighted spinecho and fast spin-echo images from most body regions
seem to be nearly independent of the field strength regarding tissue contrast.
Altogether, the gain of image quality or the reduction in
measuring time for standard proton density, T1- and T2weighted spin-echo or fast spin-echo images at higher
magnetic field strength is limited. In body regions with
problems from dielectric effects, at present it is hardly
possible to maintain the image quality known from 1.5 T
using such sequence types. In other body regions, such as
knee or wrist, improvements of image quality at 3 T have
been confirmed in test examinations [30].
Gradient-echo imaging techniques
Standard gradient-echo images reveal the same problems
with increased chemical shift at higher field as reported for
the spin-echo approaches. Again, clearly an increased readout bandwidth is necessary for compensation, as shown in
Fig. 3, and the original gain in the signal-to-noise ratio must
be sacrificed.
For most gradient-echo applications SAR problems are
less critical than for spin-echo techniques. However, fastcontrast enhanced 3D angiography using high flip angle
excitation, and fully rephased gradient-echo techniques
(steady-state free precession, SSFP, sequences of the true
fast imaging with steady-state precession, True-FISP, type
[38]) yielding the optimum signal at high flip angle excitation and short repetition times tend to reach the SAR
limits quite often at a field strength of 3 T.
In contrast to the spin-echo approaches described in the
Standard spin-echo and fast spin-echo imaging techniques section, gradient-echo techniques are very sensitive to intravoxel spin dephasing. The so-called T2* values
of the tissues are clearly shortened at higher field strength,
and shorter echo times are necessary to obtain similar
tissue depiction as at 1.5 T. On the other hand, the sensitivity of a sequence with a fixed echo time to T2* effects
of hemosiderin, trabecular structures, or perfusion after
administration of paramagnetic contrast media is nearly
linearly improved with higher field strength.

Fat-suppressed imaging
Frequency-selective or inversion-recovery fat-suppression
techniques are often applied in clinical routines using spinecho or gradient-echo sequences at 1.5 T. Since both
macroscopic field distortions and the chemical shift difference between water and fat signals are increased in the
same manner at higher fields, shimming works similarly
efficiently at higher field strength in most body regions as
known from examinations at 1.5 T. One important effect of
fat suppression at high field is the lack of chemical shift
artifacts allowing application of low readout bandwidth.
For this reason one can gain full advantage from the
increased signal yield at higher field strength. Improved
spatial resolution or shorter measuring times, especially in
combination with parallel imaging strategies such as
SENSE and SMASH [13], can be easily obtained at 3 T
using fat-suppressed imaging techniques.
Echoplanar and BOLD contrast imaging
Magnetic field inhomogeneities induced by diamagnetic or
paramagnetic material in the body linearly increase with
field strength. These field inhomogeneities lead to more
pronounced distortions in echoplanar images at higher field
strength if sequence parameters are not adapted. Adaptation
of sequence parameters means increasing the readout bandwidth in order to reduce echo spacing and echo train length.
Doing so enables one to record more echoplanar images per
measuring time or even multiecho echoplanar imaging [39],
but the signal-to-noise ratio in every image is only slightly improved at higher field strength owing to the higher
readout bandwidth. However, combination of higher field
strength with parallel imaging techniques and multishot
echoplanar techniques provides more flexibility and increased image quality of echoplanar images at higher field.
The BOLD effect, i.e., signal alteration owing to tissue
oxygenation, is clearly more pronounced at higher field for
a given echo time in T2*-weighted sequences. For this
reason it is possible to reduce the echo time to achieve
more total signal and a shorter measuring time. Using
adapted echoplanar techniques for BOLD imaging leads
finally to more than linear gain in accuracy or effectiveness for higher field strengths.
MR angiography and perfusion imaging with and
without contrast media
At higher field strength longitudinal relaxation times T1 of
tissues tend to get longer, whereas the relaxivity of most
paramagnetic contrast media (e.g., Gd-DTPA) in blood is
only slightly decreased [40, 41]. Altogether, conditions for
perfusion studies with contrast media are improved and

952

higher spatial resolution, more volume coverage, or shorter

examination times. Even navigator-gated examinations of
the coronary arteries have been reported to result in highquality images [25].
Perfusion imaging without contrast media is usually
based on spin labelling of blood outside the imaged slice
[42, 43]. Labelling of blood is better preserved owing to the
longer T1 relaxation time of blood at higher field strength,
and the time delay necessary for the blood flow into the
imaged slice is less critical. Applications of such techniques
profit from both higher absolute signal yield and more pronounced preserved effects due to blood labelling. Figure 4
shows a perfusion image of the kidneys of a 32-year-old

xx

Dielectric Pad

Fig. 4 Perfusion imaging of the kidneys without contrast media in a

breath-hold at 3 T. A flow-sensitive alternating inversion recovery
spin-labelling preparation was applied in combination with a true
fast imaging with steady-state precession (True-FISP) imaging
sequence [44]. a Density-weighted True-FISP image. TR=3.6 ms,
TE=1.8 ms, fl=70, resolution 2.8 mm2.8 mm8 mm. b Perfusion
image obtained after subtraction of two True-FISP images recorded
after slice selective and non-selective inversion (T1=1,200 ms),
respectively. Both images were recorded in the same breath-hold.
c Quantitative flow image calculated from a and b

higher contrast of perfused tissue can be obtained and/or

lower doses of contrast media can be administered.
In angiography with contrast media the signal gain at 3 T
combined with parallel imaging strategies can be used for

Fig. 5 Abdominal imaging at 3 T without (a) and with (b) a

dielectric pad. A half-Fourier single-shot fast spin-echo sequence
(TE=90 ms) was applied. Resolution 0.7 mm0.7 mm6 mm,
matrix 384512, refocusing pulses 150. The image without pads
shows complete signal void (crosses) in the ventral part of the
intestine, which can be avoided by an additional dielectric pad
located in front of the belly.

953

Spectroscopy

Fig. 6 RF resonance effects in a conductive aluminium needle of

13-cm length in a water bath at 1.5 T (a) and 3 T (b). Standard
density-weighted spin-echo sequences were applied at both field
strengths. The needle acts as a /2 antenna at 3 T, and the induced
electric current produces a very strong additional RF field which
leads to the visible irregular signal pattern in the surroundings of the
needle. At 1.5 T comparable antenna effects occur only for clearly
larger dimensions of a needle or wire.

volunteer. The image was recorded in a breath-hold at 3 T

using a torso-array coil and a flow-sensitive alternating
inversion recoveryTrue-FISP imaging technique as described in Ref. [44]. Similar examinations at 1.5 T showed
clearly inferior results using breath-hold acquisition.

Fig. 7 Contrast of brain tissue

in T1- and T2-weighted images
recorded at 1.5 and 3 T. The
contrast between grey and white
matter is slightly inferior at 3 T,
especially in T1-weighted images, whereas the signal-tonoise ratio is improved at 3 T.
Imaging parameters: resolution
0.6 mm0.7 mm3 mm; T1weighted spin-echo sequence,
TR=500 ms, TE=11 ms; T2weighted fast spin-echo sequence with echo train length 7,
TR=4,000 ms, TE=110 ms

Currently, there are only a few accepted clinical indications

for volume-localised 1H spectroscopy, mainly for characterisation of brain lesions. But there are many ongoing
spectroscopic studies in metabolic and clinic research, and
the possible use of 1H spectroscopic imaging for detection
and characterisation of prostate tumours in clinical routines
has been proposed by several groups [27, 45, 46].
In principle, an increased field strength provides two
main advantages for spectroscopy. First, clearly more signal intensity can be detected from a given volume per
measuring time, and, second, the frequency dispersion
(chemical shift) allowing one to distinguish several lines in
the spectra is also increased. However, field-dependent
conditions are somewhat more complicated. The linewidth
in spectra recorded in vivo depends on transverse relaxation (so-called natural linewidth) and on the magnetic
field distribution inside the selected voxel. The natural
linewidth is nearly independent of the field strength,
whereas field inhomogeneity in the volume tends to increase with field strength. Therefore most spectra recorded
in vivo only show moderately improved quality at 3 T
compared with at 1.5 T. For some metabolites with Jcoupling the spectral pattern is changed at higher field
strength. The latter effect must be considered for comparison of spectra recorded at different field strengths (Fig. 2).

954

Interaction of RF and body tissuedielectric effects

Possible future solutions

Inhomogeneities of RF fields

The use of additional dielectric pads is not very convenient

and solves the problems with RF inhomogeneities only
partially. In principle, a more homogeneous RF field could
be achieved inside the body using an optimised arrangement of RF transmitter coils, eventually with case-dependent adjustments of amplitudes and phase shifts (so-called
RF shimming). These sophisticated RF transmitter coil
arrangements and optimisation procedures are currently not
commercially available, but are the subject of research [48].
It seems possible that the reported problems of undesired
dielectric effects at higher field strengths can be solved in
the next few years.

As mentioned in the section MR physics at higher field

strength, a reduced wavelength at higher field strength
might lead to undesired inhomogeneities of the RF field
inside the body [33]. Those effects are particularly relevant
for abdominal and pelvic imaging at 3 T. In these body
regions RF inhomogeneities can lead to complete signal
void of tissue structures in MR images. An example of a
transverse section of the abdomen is given in Fig. 5a.
The excitation flip angles in the affected regions are reduced to very low values. The effects of such reduced
flip angles depend on the applied sequence type. In spinecho sequences the signal intensity is usually reduced for
incorrectly adjusted flip angles. In gradient-echo sequences
reduced flip angles might result in lower T1 weighting
without marked changes of signal intensity. This effect is
especially critical for clinical imaging, since lesions with
normal spin density but altered T1 might get covered in the
images. For example, liver metastases are only visible in
tissue regions experiencing the correct flip angle, but not in
regions with lower flip angles leading to pure density
weighting.
For further increased field strengths the problems are
expected to get more severe and to affect also body regions
with smaller transverse cross-sections. It should be mentioned that dielectric effects are variable and hardly predictable for individual patients, since the shape of the body
surface and the conductivity of the tissue determine the
conditions. The amount of subcutaneous and visceral fatty
tissue seems to be an important factor.

Safety issues
A higher RF leads to altered conditions for electromagnetic
resonance of conductive material at higher field strength.

Improvement by additional dielectric material

In most cases, RF field homogeneity in the body trunk
can be clearly improved using additional pads with dielectric material positioned in front of the body [47].
Figure 5b shows the improved quality of the abdominal
image in Fig. 5a after positioning a suitable dielectric pad.
In our experience (from more than 200 examinations in
Tbingen on a 3 T Magnetom Trio from Siemens, Erlangen,
Germany) the application of dielectric pads leads to acceptable image quality from the body trunk in all patients. However, an RF homogeneity with less than 20%
deviation over the entire volume as known from standard
MR units operating at 1.5 T cannot be obtained at 3 T.
This statement is supported by experiments using sequences for B1 mapping (i.e., mapping of the spatial distribution of RF field strength) in our department. For this
reason, one must be aware that the contrast behaviour can
slightly vary in different regions covered by a slice at 3 T.

Fig. 8 Cardiac imaging at 3 T using a True-FISP sequence.

Resolution 1.8 mm1.8 mm6 mm, TE=1.7 ms, fl=50. Twenty
cardiac phases were recorded in a 12-s breath-hold. Magnetic field
inhomogeneities lead to black stripes in the images (arrows), but the
entire region of the heart can usually be imaged with high quality
after shimming.

955

Especially metallic parts surrounded by aqueous media tend

to show resonance effects even for smaller extensions
owing to shorter wavelengths [4951]. The conditions for
RF resonance circuits and for RF antennas are more easily
obtained by implants and metallic instruments, e.g., aspiration needles. Figure 6 shows MR images recorded at
1.5 and 3 T from an aluminium needle with a length of
13 cm. This length corresponds to half of the wavelength
in water at 3 T, but to only a quarter of the wavelength at
1.5 T. The images in Fig. 6 indicate marked resonance
effects at 3 T, but no effects at 1.5 T. Two reasons are
responsible for the higher risk of heat hazards at 3 T. First,
resonance conditions can be easily achieved even for relatively small metallic instruments or implants, and, second,
the RF energy applied for RF pulses in imaging sequences
proportional to the second power of the field strength.

Experiences in examinations of several organs at 3 T

with increasing field strength [6, 7, 52]. In addition, spectroscopic studies of the brain show clearly higher quality at
3 T, with better spectral separation of relevant metabolites
such as glutamine and glutamate [5355].
Anatomical imaging of the brain at 3 T also profits from a
higher signal-to-noise ratio (nearly doubled as expected)
compared with imaging at 1.5 T, but reduced contrast
between grey and white matter is obvious in T1-weighted
images (Fig. 7). The contrast behaviour in T2-weighted
imaging is very similar for both field strengths as demonstrated in Fig. 7. More detail on specific sequences for brain
imaging is beyond the scope of this article and is reported in
the literature [5660].
Soft tissue in the neck contains layers of fat tissue. For
this reason head and neck imaging requires an increased
receiver bandwidth at higher field strength, since otherwise the chemical shift artifacts get too prominent. This
leads to higher noise levels in the images and the overall
quality in standard T1- or T2-weighted spin-echo or fast
spin-echo imaging is only slightly increased at 3 T.

Head and neck

The dimensions of the human head are small enough to
prevent marked dielectric effects at field strengths up to 3
T. The maximal deviation from the desired flip angle was
approximately 20% as assessed in experimental studies.
In fMRI of the brain a higher magnetic field strength
yields a better signal-to-noise ratio and an increased BOLD
effect. A high number of references document more than
proportional improvement of fMRI examination quality
Fig. 9 T1- and T2-weighted
imaging of the pelvis at 1.5 and
3 T (applying a dielectric pad) in
a 32-year-old male volunteer.
The contrast between different
tissues is nearly unchanged at 3
T. Slight dielectric effects with
less signal intensity in the rectal
region are visible at 3 T. Imaging parameters: resolution 1.2
mm1.2 mm3 mm; T1weighted spin-echo sequence,
TR=500 ms, TE=11 ms; T2weighted fast spin-echo sequence with echo train length
7, TR=4,000 ms, TE=110 ms

Thorax and cardiac imaging

Lung tissue mainly consists of gaseous matter, and the RF
wavelength is clearly longer than in solid tissues. For this
reason dielectric effects in the mediastinum are clearly less
pronounced than in the abdomen or pelvis.
In contrast, susceptibility-related inhomogeneities of the
static magnetic field play an important role. Microscopic

956

Fig. 10 Three-dimensional
knee imaging at 3 T with an
isotropic resolution of 0.5 mm in
a measuring time of 8 min 20 s
using a knee coil of the manufacturer with eight elements. A
double-echo steady-state sequence with water-selective
excitation and TR=22 ms,
TE=6.9 ms and fl=25 was
applied, resulting in high contrast between bone, cartilage and
synovial fluid. Parallel imaging
with factor 2 provided an acceptable measuring time.

Fig. 11 Imaging of the hand of a 17-year-old female with a bone

lesion in metacarpal II using the transmit/receive wrist coil of the
manufacturer. a T1-weighted spin-echo image (TR=400 ms, TE=12
ms) with a resolution of 0.25 mm0.25 mm1.5 mm showing the
lesion (arrow). b Post-contrast fat-saturated T1-weighted spin-echo

image (parameters as before) indicating high perfusion of the lesion.

c Maximum intensity projection reconstruction of a magnetic
resonance angiogram. Parameters: 3D spoiled gradient-echo sequence, TR=4.5 ms, TE=1.7 ms, fl=20, resolution (0.57 mm)3, scan
time 25 s

957

field inhomogeneities in each pixel combined with diffusion make lung imaging at 3 T very difficult, and extremely
short echo times are necessary to achieve sufficient signal
intensity from lung structures.
Morphological and functional cardiac imaging using
spin-echo or spoiled gradient-echo sequences, respectively,
shows clearly improved results at 3 T [12, 21, 25, 26]. The
increased signal-to-noise ratio allows one to take advantage
of parallel imaging strategies [13], leading to shorter measuring times or a higher number of recorded slices. It should
be mentioned that higher field strengths unfortunately limit
applications of modern SSFP (e.g., True-FISP) sequences.
Artificial dark lines occur with higher spatial frequency
owing to the more pronounced macroscopic static field
inhomogeneities, but after shimming artifact-free images
of the entire human heart can usually be obtained (Fig. 8).
The maximal flip angles in such sequences are restricted
owing to the SAR limits. However, experimental comparison showed improved image quality at 3 T even for TrueFISP sequences.
Abdomen and pelvis
Abdominal and sometimes pelvic imaging is affected by the
mentioned dielectric effects. Distinct signal voids most
often occur in areas behind the ventral abdominal wall
(Fig. 5a). The relaxation times of abdominal and pelvic
organs are slightly different at 3 T [36], but T1- and T2weighted images at higher field strength show contrast behaviour similar to the findings at 1.5 T to which radiologists
are used to. An example is shown in Fig. 9. The current
quality of abdominal and pelvic MR images recorded at
3 T is not always superior to examinations with optimised
array coil systems on modern MR units operating at 1.5 T.
Further improvements in RF transmission and receiver coil
systems are expected to lead to superior results on 3 T
systems within the next few years.
Knee and wrist/hand
Musculoskeletal imaging of knee and wrist clearly benefits
from a higher field strength for several reasons. The crosssectional dimensions of the extremities allowed development of adapted transmit/receive coils or even multichannel
coil systems with high sensitivity to the increased MR
signals. For this reason extremely high spatial resolution
can be obtained in a moderate examination time. Parallel
acquisition strategies are clearly supportive for imaging at 3
T and allow more flexible optimisation regarding spatial
resolution and examination times. Multiplanar images
reconstructed from a 3D data set of a knee examination
are shown in Fig. 10. High resolution and good contrast
between cartilage, bone and synovial fluid were achieved

after 8 min 20 s of measuring time. Even higher resolution

can be obtained in optimised examinations of the wrist. An
example of T1-weighted, fat-suppressed and angiographic
imaging of a hand with a lesion of the metacarpal II is
depicted in Fig. 11. The lesion and all relevant tissues are
well demonstrated. The total examination time for all three
sequences amounted to 12 min.
For extremity imaging dielectric effects are negligible,
and SAR problems can be overcome using volume-selective RF transmission. Assessment of trabecular bone
structures is supported by the increased susceptibility
effects using gradient-echo sequences.

Conclusions
Altogether whole-body MR imaging at 3 T is feasible now,
but the quality of the results is particularly dependent on the
body region examined and on the sequence technique
applied. In the present stage, fMRI of the brain, anatomical
imaging of the extremities and spectroscopic examinations
(brain, prostate, and musculature) show clearly improved
results at 3 T compared with 1.5 T. Most other examinations
provide at least similar image quality at higher field
strength. Only examinations of the abdomen and pelvis are
in some cases inferior owing to problems with dielectric
effects. In addition, fast spin-echo sequences and True-FISP
sequences are often hampered by the SAR limits, especially
when the body coil must be used for RF transmission.
Undesired heating hazards in the presence of conductive
material have to be considered very carefully at higher field
strengths.
The course of hardware and software development for
optimisation of MRI at 1.5 T has a history of approximately
20 years, and a very high level has already been reached. In
contrast, clearly less effort could be made for whole-body
applications at 3 T, and there are probably more opportunities for further developments with high impact in the
future. It is expected that current problems, especially for
imaging of the body trunk, will be solved within the next
few years. Thereafter, complete whole-body examinations
could be possibly performed with clearly higher quality as
on modern 1.5 T systems at present.
Acknowledgements The author wishes to thank all contributors
from several research groups working on the 3-T whole-body system in Tbingen, which was financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Th 812/1-1). The images and spectra presented in
this review article were recorded and prepared with the help of
Michael Fenchel, Hansjrg Graf, Sabine Lenk, Matthias Lichy,
Jrgen Machann, Petros Martirosian, Stephan Miller, Heinz-Peter
Schlemmer, Gnter Steidle and Beate Wietek. The Chairman of the
Department of Diagnostic Radiology of the University Clinic of
Tbingen, Claus D. Claussen, is acknowledged for continuous support. Many experimental and clinical studies at 3 T were supported
by members of Siemens Medical Solutions.

958

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