Parallel Transmit for 7T MRI imaging in Epilepsy
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Parallel Transmit for 7T MRI imaging in Epilepsy
IRAS ID
322922
Contact name
Thomas Cope
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN16452095
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
360,000 people have focal epilepsy in the UK, one third of whom have persistent seizures despite medication. Persistent seizures make it difficult to work, impossible to drive, and carry a high risk of death. Epilepsy surgery transforms lives by stopping seizures in 70% of patients when there is a clear resection target.
Current NHS standard of care uses 3T MRI and FDG-PET to identify surgical targets, but this combination is often inconclusive. A recent international consensus statement [Opheim 2021, "7T Epilepsy Task Force Consensus Recommendations on the Use of 7T MRI in Clinical Practice." Neurology 96(7): 327-341.] recommends 7T MRI because of enhanced sensitivity, but there are two practical barriers to clinical implementation.
1. Lesions are often in the temporal lobes where conventional (single transmit) 7T MRI
is obscured by signal drop-outs.2. No 7T MRI sequences are CE marked for clinical use in epilepsy.
The consensus group recommend the development of parallel transmit to improve visualisation of lesions in the temporal lobes where conventional (single transmit) 7T MRI can be obscured by signal drop-outs.
Here we will evaluate the use of parallel transmit sequences to remove these barriers to 7T MRI in hospitals performing epilepsy surgery, offering patient benefit and cost savings. This will provide proof-of-concept that parallel transmit imaging is viable for routine clinical implementation.
REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/WM/0008
Date of REC Opinion
16 Feb 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion