Siemens Magnetom 7T Photo: Supplied
Scientists at the University of Queensland hope a new Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine will help cement the uni's place as a centre for excellence in neurological science.
UQ's Centre for Advanced Imaging recently installed an MRI system more than twice as strong as any other currently available in the Southern Hemisphere.
UQ CAI Director, Professor David Reutens said this would benefit research programs into neurodegenerative diseases.
“The 7 Tesla system provides a quantum leap in imaging sensitivity, being 140,000 times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field, enabling incredibly detailed images of human anatomy down to the cellular level," he said.
The 7T research program is headed by Associate Professor Markus Barth who has previously worked with the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour in The Netherlands.
According to Mr Barth the highest quality of MRI in the Southern Hemisphere after the 7T is the 3T MRI.
“With 3 Tesla, which is the standard, spectral resolution is at 1mm isotropic, so you have pixels that are 1mm x 1mm. With 7 Tesla we are already at several hundred microns, we get 0.2mm to 0.3mm resolution – you can non-invasively look at or cut through tissue and you can get very important information from that,” Mr Barth said.
The use of a 7T MRI could have a lot of benefits to the plan of action with regards to treatment of diseases.
“When looking at epilepsy what you want to find is the seizure area. In epilepsy you have a lesion in the brain which can be very, very small and that's what triggers the epileptic seizure. You have to look into the brain and try to surgically remove the lesion, the better your resolution the easier it is to find where you have to remove the tissue from.”
Mr Barth said that it also has applications for brain tumours.
“There are two different applications for brain tumours. One is to find a better way to remove a tumour surgically. You have more detail of the surrounding veins and area so you can better plan your surgery with high resolution images. You can also follow the development of the tumour over time with better resolution and increased contrast,” he said.
The 7T MRI could also useful for diagnosis of diseases like Alzheimer's.
“With better spatial resolution we can look at white matter fibres in the brain and look into it with more detail. The idea is to find the biomarker for Alzheimer's so that if somebody is scanned you can already tell if it's Alzheimer's or mild cognitive impairment.”
Shying away from brain-related researches, the 7T MRI will also be used for other fields of medical research.
“Going away from the brain, we have also established a program for knee imaging. We don't want to just expand on neuro, but also do research in MSK (musculoskeletal), areas in cardiac and spine imaging,” Mr Barth said.
There will also be future collaborations with other Australian universities as the 7T MRI is a flagship instrument of the National Imaging Facility, a research network of 10 Australian universities and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.