The perfect team: MRI meets PET

Together with Siemens Healthcare, researchers from Jülich have developed a combined device comprising a 9.4 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner and a positron emission tomograph (PET). Using this hybrid system 9.4T MRPET, also known as “9 komma4”, they have been developing the machine since spring 2009 to be able to gain even clearer insights into the brain; the two imaging methods complement each other perfectly. The MRI scanner produces images with the highest resolution, while the PET scanner shows molecular processes taking place in the brain. The 20 million euro device was financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and Siemens.

The magnetic field of 9.4 Tesla is up to six times higher than conventional devices and is almost 200,000 times stronger than the Earth’s magnetic field. The “9komma4” with its high field strength can create images of the structures of the brain with a previously unattained resolution. Now it is possible to localise pathological tissue, such as a tumour, as well as metabolic disorders in the brain precisely down to a millimetre,” says Prof. Dr. N. Jon Shah, Director of the Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine at the Forschungszentrum Jülich. This will clearly advance the study and early recognition of neurodegenerative diseases such as epilepsy, stroke, dementia, Alzheimer’s or multiple sclerosis.

In cases of multiple sclerosis or even tumours or strokes, water accumulates around the pathological tissue. Simultaneous measurement with MRI and PET has made it possible, for the very first time, to also compare changes in the biochemistry of the brain with changes in the water content. For cancer diagnosis, the researchers in Jülich are developing a special radionuclide for labelling tumours. The “9komma4” can then help to characterise the cancerous tissue before an operation.