Lesions were better visualized on pTx than circularly polarized MRI in 57 percent of cases and were never better visualized on circularly polarized MRI
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, March 27, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Parallel transmit (pTx) 7 Tesla (T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) changes management in more than half of adult candidates for epilepsy surgery, according to a study published online March 20 in Epilepsia.
Krzysztof Klodowski, Ph.D., from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, and colleagues compared pTx and circularly polarized (CP) 7T MRI in adult candidates for epilepsy surgery who had negative or equivocal 3T MRI. Outcomes were reported for the first 31 patients.
The researchers found that 7T revealed previously unseen structural lesions, confirmed 3T-equivocal lesions, and disproved equivocal lesions in nine, four, and four patients, respectively (29, 13, and 13 percent). In 57 percent of cases, lesions were better visualized on pTx than CP and were never better visualized on CP. In 18 cases (58 percent), clinical management was altered by 7T: Nine were offered surgical resection and one laser interstitial thermal therapy; three were removed from the surgical pathway due to bilateral or extensive lesions; and five were offered stereo-electroencephalography with better targeting. Significantly better overall quality of pTx fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images was confirmed in blinded comparison, while magnetization-prepared 2 rapid acquisition gradient echo images were noninferior and had improved temporal lobe coverage and less signal dropout.
“The introduction of pTx-7T MRI to a real-world epilepsy surgery pathway changed clinical management for more than half of the patients scanned, making it highly likely that it will be cost-effective in patients with normal 3T MRI,” the authors write.
Two authors disclosed ties to Siemens and Siemens Healthcare.
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