Gray matter-white matter contrast on spin-echo T1-weighted images at 3 T and 1.5 T: a quantitative comparison study

Discrepancies exist in the literature regarding contrast between gray and white matter on spin-echo (SE) T1-weighted MR imaging at 3 T. The present study quantitatively assessed differences in gray matter-white matter contrast on both single- and multi-slice SE T1-weighted imaging between 3 and 1.5 T. SE T1-weighted sequences with the same parameters at both 3 and 1.5 T were used. Contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) between gray and white matter (CNRGM-WM) was evaluated for both frontal lobes. To assess the effects of interslice gap, multi-slice images were obtained with both 0 and 25% interslice gap. Single-slice CNRGM-WM was higher at 3 T (17.66 ± 2.68) than at 1.5 T (13.09 ± 2.35; P < 0.001). No significant difference in CNRGM-WM of multi-slice images with 0% gap was noted between 3 and 1.5 T (3T, 8.61 ± 2.55; 1.5T, 7.43 ± 1.20; P > 0.05). Multi-slice CNRGM-WM with 25% gap was higher at 3T (12.47 ± 3.31) than at 1.5 T (9.73 ± 1.37; P < 0.001). CNRGM-WM reduction rate of multi-slice images with 0% gap compared with single-slice images was higher at 3T (0.47 ± 0.13) than at 1.5 T (0.38 ± 0.09; P = 0.02). CNRGM-WM on single-slice SE T1-weighted imaging and CNRGM-WM on multi-slice images with 25% interslice gap were better at 3 T than at 1.5 T. The influence of multi-slice imaging on CNRGM-WM was significantly larger at 3T than at 1.5 T. (orig.)