REPRODUCIBILITY OF 7T MRI MEASUREMENTS OF THE SUSCEPTIBILITY AND VOLUME OF HIPPOCAMPAL SUBFIELDS

The study examined the reproducibility of magnetic susceptibility measurements of various hippocampal subfields using 7T magnetic resonance imaging. The research included 50 datasets from 10 healthy participants (mean age 32 years, 3 females) with 5 repeated measurements. Susceptibility values ranged across 18 ppb throughout the hippocampus, with the lowest values in the dentate gyrus (-13.3 ppb) and highest in the entorhinal cortex (4.7 ppb). The standard deviation between repeated measurements (1.7 to 4 ppb) was less than half of the variability between participants. All hippocampal subfields demonstrated high reproducibility with ICC(2,k) values greater than 0.82. The results confirm that susceptibility measurements of hippocampal subfields at 7T are a reliable and consistent method.