Project Details
Description
Abstract
Bone marrow perfusion can provide essential knowledge about bone physiology, improve our understanding of
disease etiology and pathophysiology, assist the differentiation between normal and abnormal bone marrow,
and assess the response to prescribed therapies. Arterial spin labeling (ASL) magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI), as a noninvasive and non-contrast-enhanced approach, is well suited for longitudinal monitoring of
disease progression and routine evaluation of therapy response. But as revealed by our recent studies, there
exist technical challenges (e.g., low signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio due to significantly low perfusion in epiphyseal
yellow bone marrow mainly consisting of fat cells with a sparse network of capillaries), and methodological
limitations (e.g., single slice coverage and impractically long acquisition time for multi-slice imaging at 3T),
hampering routine application of ASL imaging in the knee. Ultrahigh (≥7T) magnetic field can specifically benefit
ASL imaging and overcome these challenges by increasing SNR, prolonging blood and tissue T1, and improving
parallel imaging performance. However, the current clinically approved single-transmit MRI system and
associated imaging methods are incapable of managing the transmit B1 (B1+) fields needed to realize the
promised improvement in imaging quality, reliability, and robustness of 7T while existing RF coils are unable to
provide adequate B1+ coverage for optimal ASL imaging. Our long-term goal is to develop and improve UHF
imaging methods to better facilitate scientific research and clinical studies to improve the management of skeletal
diseases and patient healthcare. The rationale is that the existing technical challenges for UHF imaging,
including ASL, can be overcome or mitigated, ultimately to realize UHF potentials with promised benefits and
superior imaging ability. The objective of this proposal is to develop an optimized, safe, and efficient pTx platform
for knee ASL imaging (Aim 1), to develop and optimize pTx-integrated knee ASL imaging methods (Aim 2) and
to explore their clinical potentials via studies with a cohort of JOCD patients, an ideal testbed for the developed
methodologies. Accomplishing these aims will enable us to fully explore and utilize pTx potentials to overcome
the existing technical challenges for knee ASL imaging at 7T. Once developed and optimized, the ASL methods,
along with the pTx knee imaging platform, will provide clinicians and research community a powerful tool to
enrich our insights into disease etiology and pathophysiology and improve the management of not only JOCD
but also various impactful common knee diseases (e.g., osteoarthritis). Novel knowledge and experience from
our pioneering development will speed up the maturity of new technology toward early approval of the next
generation of clinical UHF MRI systems.
Status | Active |
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Effective start/end date | 6/1/23 → 5/31/24 |
Funding
- National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering: $369,223.00
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