Arjen Lindenholz

52 CHAPTER 3 Figure 1. (A) Sagittal view of the anterior circulation intracranial arteries and (B) corresponding phase-contrast angiography image used in our clinic for planning the field of view (45 mm feet-head, red box) in a transverse oblique plane to include all large intracranial arteries of the anterior circulation. (C) Transverse viewof the large intracranial arteries of the circle of Willis and (D) corresponding transverse oblique oriented 3T T 1 -weighted intracranial vessel wall MR image, in which most anterior circulation arteries can be seen in one slice. A1 and A2, segments of the anterior cerebral artery; ACOM, anterior communicating artery; BA, basilar artery; ICA, internal carotid artery; M1, M2 and M3, segments of the middle cerebral artery; P1 and P2, segments of the posterior cerebral artery; PCOM, posterior communicating artery; VA, vertebral artery. Our 7T protocol The 7T MRI platform in our institution (Philips Healthcare, Cleveland, OH, USA) is equipped with a 32-channel receive coil and a volume transmit/ receive coil for transmission (Nova Medical, Wilmington, MA, USA). We use a T 1 -weighted Magnetization-Prepared Inversion Recovery Turbo Spin-Echo (MPIR-TSE) intracranial vessel wall sequence acquired before and after contrast administration , 15,48 with acquired isotropic resolution of 0.8 x 0.8 x 0.8 mm 3 that is reconstructed to 0.49 x 0.49 x 0.49 mm 3 isotropic resolution. The pulse sequence includes an inversion recovery pulse that results in nearly complete CSF suppression, and uses low and varying refocusing pulse angles for obtaining black blood. The FOV encompasses the entire brain (190 mm), which, in combination