The month of March came to a remarkable end with the insightful GliMR webinar in which Dr. Gilbert Hangel talked about 7T MRI and its effects on the subject. His talk covered practical aspects of installing and performing patient studies with a 7T MRI scanner.
A special emphasis was put on the fact that there are additional sensory effects and safety aspects to be considered in comparison to other clinically available field strengths. Especially vestibular stimulation, electrogustatory effects, magnetophosphenes, and, though less frequent, hallucinations, should be mentioned as possible side effects to the subject before any acquisition. These side effects are also dependent on subject positioning, especially vestibular stimulation. Furthermore, vestibular stimulation causes a readjustment of the brain when moving through the high magnetic field, potentially affecting resting state fMRI studies. On another note, acquisitions with ECG-triggering are more complicated on a 7T scanner as the “textbook” ECG signal, which is visible at other clinically available field strengths, presents additional features.
The GliMR webinar team warmly thanks Dr. Gilbert Hangel and all webinar participants, and welcomes feedback and topic suggestions for future webinars (glimrwebinar@gmail.com).
