Three-tesla high-field applications.

The authors believe that 3-T intraoperative MRI (iMRI) is likely to become the standard of care for a wide range of neurosurgical procedures. Although 3-T high-field image acquisition does pose challenges, the advantages of this field strength, such as superior visualization of soft tissue and clear delineation of any residual tumor tissue, are clearly optimized using this equipment. Additionally, the use of 3-T high-field scanning offers functional options, such as brain activation studies and complex vascular imaging, that are unavailable with low- and midfield iMRI systems. The authors believe that the cost and effort necessary to acquire and establish a 3-T high-field iMRI program represent the natural progression for image-guided neurosurgery.