bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Neuronal metabolic biomarkers in cerebellum of Spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 and 12 patients
Authors: Pankaj Pankaj , Kumaran S Senthil , Srivastava Achal , Agrawal Ramesh
Published: August 2023

Spinocerebellar Ataxia (SCA) is a genetic and hereditary disorder that leads to severe disability in balance, speech, posture, etc. SCA2 and SCA12 are two sub-types, which have different CAG repeat expansion on chromosome with different pathologies. In vivo MR spectroscopy was acquired using single voxel Point Resolved Spectroscopy Sequence (PRESS) in the left cerebellum. SCA2 showed a decrease in NAA and Cho and increased mI concentration as compared to controls and an increase in mI values as compared to that in SCA12, which may be attributed to the motor and cognitive dysfunctions in SCA, reflecting more atrophy in SCA2.
Improved Motion Correction in Dynamic Contrast Enhancement MRI Using Low Rank with Soft Weighting
Authors: Zhang Jichang , Wang Xinpei , Najeeb Faisal , Xu Pengfei , Omer Hammad , Gowland Penny , Francis Sue , Glover Paul , Bowtell Richard , Wang Chengbo
Published: August 2023

This work presents a robust motion corrected free breathing Dynamic Contrast Enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) reconstruction method called Low rank plus sparse (L+S) with soft weighting which compressed motion blurring by employing a soft weighting matrix. The motion correction performance was quantified in this work. A computer simulation framework based on a modified shepp-logan model was developed with the ground truth to quantify the reconstruction errors. The proposed method achieved better motion correction and high reconstruction efficiency simultaneously.
Isotropic 3D high-resolution T2-weighted breast MRI with a deep learning constrained Compressed SENSE reconstruction: a pilot study
Authors: Fan Yang , Jieyin Yang , Jiayu Sun , Xiaoyong Zhang , Chuntang Ling
Published: August 2023

2D T2-weighted (T2WI) breast MRI is prominently used for the identification of the colliquative necrosis and cysts, and it can also contribute to the characterization of lesions as benign or malignant. However, 2D imaging is routinely used in clinical practice, which has lower resolution, slice gaps, and may suffer distortion to delineate the breast lesions. In this study, we applied the Compressed-sensing Artificial Intelligence (CS-AI) framework to further increase the spatial resolution and reduce the scan time. The results of this study demonstrated that the high-resolution T2-weighted 3D CS-AI can provide further benefits to improve the depiction of diagnostic findings of breast lesions.
Automatic segmentation of prostate gland on multiparametric MR images using deep learning convolutional neural network: a multi-center study
Authors: Xu Lili , Zhang Gumuyang , Mao Li , Li Xiuli , Sun Hao , Jin Zhengyu
Published: August 2023

Accurate prostate segmentation on MR images plays an important role in the management of prostate diseases. Recently proposed deep learning architecture has been successfully applied for medical image segmentation to overcome the shortcomings of manual segmentation. Our study proposed a 3D UNet model for automatic and accurate prostate gland segmentation on both DWI and T2WI images. This model was tested in 3 different external cohorts and showed satisfactory results on T2WI images. The segmentation performance on DWI images was inferior but still inspiring in the external testing group. This study might benefit the management of prostate diseases in the future.
The feasibility of ASL combined with Q-flow MRI in evaluating hemodynamic changes of transplant renal artery stenosis
Authors: Pan Liang , Chen Jie , Xing Wei , Zhang Jilei
Published: August 2023

Transplant renal artery stenosis (TRAS) is a less common but important etiology of renal dysfunction following transplantation. It is of great importance to include TRAS in the differential diagnosis for allograft dysfunction early after transplantation. We used ASL combined with 2D-PC Q-flow MRI to assess hemodynamic changes of TRAS. The results reflected that there were differences in the mean flux and velocity of the stenotic segment of transplant renal artery and renal allograft perfusion between different degrees of TRAS, and the mean flux and velocity were more closely related to the degree of TRAS compared with renal allograft perfusion.
Simplified VI-RADS based on biparametric MRI for the detection of muscle-invasive bladder cancer
Authors: Ye Lei , Zhang Xiaoyong , Chen Yuntian , Xu Hui
Published: August 2023

There are different opinions about the importance of dynamic contrast enhancement (DCE) in VI-RADS among patients with bladder cancer (BCa), for the limited contribution for identifying muscle invasiveness and gadolinium-related toxicity. This study head-to-head compared the diagnostic accuracy between simplified VI-RADS excluding DCE sequence and conventional VI-RADS including DCE sequence. Our results showed that the diagnostic performance was comparable between these two MRI protocols.
Accelerated high-resolution T2-weighted imaging for prostate with a deep learning constrained Compressed SENSE reconstruction
Authors: Kwon Jihun , Yoshida Takashige , Yoneyama Masami , Cauteren Marc
Published: August 2023

T2-weighted (T2W) imaging is used to depict prostate anatomy. However, T2W imaging with high spatial resolution, which is required by PI-RADSv2, is not always performed because of the long scan time. In this study, we investigated the use of Compressed SENSE AI (CS-AI) reconstruction to accelerate high-resolution T2W imaging of the prostate. The image quality of CS-AI reconstruction, conventional Compressed-SENSE (C-SENSE), and SENSE were compared qualitatively and quantitatively. Clinical cases demonstrated a significant noise reduction in accelerated CS-AI. CS-AI also showed a significantly higher contrast-to-noise ratio in CS-AI compared to SENSE and C-SENSE.
Quantitative T2 mapping in early prediction of treatment response to chemoradiation for patients with local advanced rectal cancer
Authors: Ge Yuxi , Dou Weiqiang
Published: August 2023

This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of T2 mapping in predicting the response to chemoradiation (CRT) for patients with local advanced rectal cancer (LARC). Thirty-five LARC patients were measured with T2 mapping before-, during- and after-CRT. Resultant T2 values during- and after-CRT, and the T2 decrease ratio of before- to during-CRT were correlated significantly with tumor regression grade. Compared to poor responders, good responders showed lower T2 during- and after-CRT and higher T2 decrease ratio of before- to during-CRT. Therefore, quantitative T2 mapping may be useful for predicting the response to CRT for LARC patients.
Comparative analysis of IVIM and PET imaging versus APTw in assessing Ki-67 expression of non-small cell cancer
Authors: Fang Ting , Meng Nan , Huang Zhun , Feng Pengyang , Li Ziqiang , Yang Yang , Yuan Jianmin , Wang Meiyun
Published: August 2023

Intra-Voxel Incoherent Motion (IVIM), PET imaging, and Amide Proton Transfer weighted imaging (APTw) are all effective tools for distinguishing the pathological types of solitary pulmonary lesions. The difference between their ability to distinguish the Ki-67 high expression (HE) and low expression (LE) group is still unclear. Our study shows IVIM and PET imaging are better methods than APTw for distinguishing Ki-67 HE and LE groups of non-small cell cancer.
Hyperintense globus pallidus rim sign could be a novel hallmark of Wilson disease at 7T MRI: a pilot case-control study
Authors: Dongning Su , Zhe Zhang , Zhijin Zhang , Wanlin Zhu , Binbin Sui , Yingkui Zhang , Jingfeng Bi , Qingle Kong , Yawen Gan , Rui Yan , Xuemei Wang , Zhan Wang , Yongjun Wang , Tao Wu , Jing Jing , Tao Feng
Published: August 2023

To explore specific neuroimaging characteristics of iron deposition in WD, we conducted a small sample, prospective case-control study to compare the 7T MRI manifestation of iron deposition in the basal ganglia among PD, WD patients and healthy controls. The hyperintense globus pallidus rim sign could be a specific neuroimaging characteristic of WD in 7T T2*-weighted and SWI images, which may be related to the unique iron deposition pattern in the striatum in WD patients. Internal capsule appears to be hyperintensity with a clear border only observed in WD patients. These findings have the potential to provide diagnostic biomarkers for WD.
Multiexponential T1ρ spectroscopy in liver fibrosis: A prospective animal experiment at 11.7T MRI
Authors: Xu Junqi , Wang Qianfeng , Yu Xuchen , Han Jiawei , Lu Yimei , Wang He
Published: August 2023

This study proposed a new method to assess the stage of liver fibrosis by signal curves clustering and multiexponential decay T1ρ spectral analysis. Compared to single component in normal tissue, liver fibrosis tissue has two T1ρ components, in carbon tetrachloride (CCI­4) rat model. Meanwhile, T1ρ tends to increase with fibrosis score. Due to the spatial distribution of clusters reveal the fibrosis region, this method might contribute to diagnosis and staging of liver fibrosis.
Morphological Characterization of Hepatic Steatosis Using Stereology and Spatial Statistics
Authors: Wang Jinyang , Wang Changqing , Reeder Scott , Hernando Diego
Published: August 2023

Monte Carlo modeling enables characterization of MR signals in various tissues, and has been applied to liver MR in the presence of fat. However, Monte Carlo modeling requires accurate information about the underlying tissue properties. In this work, we investigate the size and clustering of fat droplets in the liver using stereology and spatial statistics for three human liver biopsy samples with steatosis. Results show that the generalized gamma distribution function can accurately determine the size and location distributions of fat droplets. This may enable analysis of the underlying biophysical mechanisms between fat fraction and R2* from microscopic magnetic sensitivity.
Open-Source Hypothalamic-ForniX (OSHy-X) Atlases and Segmentation Tool for 3T and 7T
Authors: Chang Jeryn , Steyn Frederik , Ngo Shyuan , Henderson Robert , Guo Christine , Bollmann Steffen , Fripp Jurgen , Barth Markus , Shaw Thomas
Published: August 2023

Segmentation and volumetric analysis of the hypothalamus and fornix plays a critical role in improving the understanding of degenerative processes that might impact the function of these structures. We present Open-Source Hypothalamic-ForniX (OSHy-X) atlases and tool for multi-atlas fusion segmentation for 3T and 7T. The atlases are based on 20 manual segmentations, which we demonstrate have high interrater agreement. The versatility of the OSHy-X tool allows segmentation and volumetric analysis for different field strengths and contrasts. We also demonstrate that OSHy-X segmentation has higher Dice overlaps (3T and 7T inputs: p<0005, p<0.005) than a deep-learning segmentation method for the hypothalamus.
Identification and diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in high-risk patients with an abbreviated-protocol MR screening: a pilot study
Authors: Wan Shang , Wei Yi , Tang Hehan , Nie Lisha , Wei Xiaocheng , Song Bin
Published: August 2023

Early detection and diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is essential for patients’ prognosis, however, the imaging hallmarks for tumor detection and diagnosis has remained same for years despite the use of many new imaging methods. Thus, in this study, we aimed to prospectively evaluated the detection performance of various MR sequences and abbreviated MRI (aMRI) protocols in different clinical settings and further compared the different imaging criteria for the diagnosis of HCC using either extracellular contrast agent (ECA) or hepatobiliary specific contrast (HBSC) MR imaging, and the developed diagnostic criteria for detection and diagnosis of HCC may aid clinical diagnosis.
A machine learning method to identify grade Ⅱ/Ⅲ glioma based on perfusion parameters derived from DCE-MRI and DSC-MRI
Authors: Yao Qiaoli , Deng Kan , Liang Zhiyu , Xu Yikai
Published: August 2023

As grade Ⅱ and Ⅲ gliomas are difficult to distinguish in preoperative, this study attempted to find the best perfusion parameters for identifying grade Ⅱ/Ⅲ glioma by machine learning model. The machine learning model showed robust performance when using the parameters of volume transfer coefficient (Ktrans) and mean transit time (MTT) derived from the dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) and dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) imaging, which indicated that the combination of DCE and DSC perfusion techniques is expected to further improve the differential diagnosis of grade Ⅱ and Ⅲ gliomas.
The location reliability of the functional connectivity of deep emotion-related regions towards functional connectivity guided rTMS therapy
Authors: Zhao Na , Yue Juan , Feng Zi-Jian , Qiao Yang , Yuan Li-Xia , Wang Jue , Zhang Yong , Xiang Yu-Tao , Zang Yu-Feng
Published: August 2023

The current study systematically investigated multiple factors that affect the reliability of the FC location and strength of the DLPFC with a few emotional related deep regions. The group-level voxel-wise FC strength reliability was low to moderate, indicating its little significance for guiding individualized rTMS treatment. In terms of the FC location reliability, the intra-individual distances of the center of gravity (COG) were 3.8-7.3 mm across different conditions, which suggest that the COG of the seed-based FC might be potential stimulation target for individualized precise rTMS treatment of affective brain disorders.
Voxel-based quantitative mapping of glioma heterogeneity for the differentiation of IDH genotype using CEST-MRI
Authors: Liu Ying , Zhao Botao , Zhang Xiao-Yong
Published: August 2023

The identification of the isocitrate dehydrogenase mutant (IDHMUT) glioma and IDH wild-type (IDHWT) glioma has significant diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic implications. In this work, we evaluated the non-invasive prediction of IDH mutation status in glioma mice by employing a combination of high spectral resolution CEST MRI at 11.7T together with data analysis using machine learning approaches. We demonstrated that in vivo CEST signals correspond very well with glioma genotypes. Among several CEST signals, the signals at Δω =3.5 ppm may serve as the major indicator to differentiate the IDH genotype glioma from other types.
Simultaneous macromolecular proton fraction and proton density fat fraction quantification using chemical shift-encoding based spin-lock MRI
Authors: Hou Jian , Qian Yurui , Jiang Baiyan , Chan Queenie , Wu Zhigang , Wong Vincent , Karampinos Dimitrios , Chu Winnie , Chen Weitian
Published: August 2023

Chronic liver disease is a major healthcare problem worldwide. Liver fibrosis and fat fraction are two main features of chronic liver diseases. Recent work reported that macromolecular proton fraction (MPF) mapping has potential for diagnosis of liver fibrosis. In this work, we reported a novel technique to quantify MPF and fat fraction of the liver simultaneously in a brief breath hold.
Analytical B0 shimming from 3D survey scans: feasibility and impact on EPI image quality
Authors: Thazhackal Sharun , Srinivasan Ashvin , Saraswathy Suja , Jayapalan Manivannan , Rudrapatna Umesh , Neelavalli Jaladhar
Published: August 2023

The inhomogeneity in the main magnetic field (B0) leads to SNR loss and image artifacts. B0 inhomogeneity increases with the field strength, thus leading to more pronounced B0 inhomogeneity at 3T and beyond. However repeated B0 map acquisition for shimming and for image reconstruction is time consuming. We show that subject-specific B0 and the corresponding shim settings can be predicted accurately using pseudo-CT generated from MR images – potentially obviating the need for a B0 scan. We propose an alternative approach based on image co-registration techniques that yields comparable results using survey images, without the need of any additional scans.
Estimation of axon-bundle parallel-diffusivity on clinical settings with linear-encoding DW-MR data
Authors: Stack-Sanchez Pablo , Ramirez-Manzanares Alonso , Gonzalez-Vega Arturo , Marroquin Jose Luis , Concha Luis
Published: August 2023

The estimation of reliable parameters of multi-compartment models of water diffusivity is a challenging open problem, especially when low-SNR clinical-datasets are analyzed. The ill-posedness of the models requires fixing a subset of parameters in order to estimate the rest of them. We propose a simple and fast method where only averaged parameters are required (not voxelwise information is required). The method is based on the processing of powder-averaged data to estimate a robust value for the axon-bundle parallel-diffusivity. We test the robustness of the method on synthetic experiments and show the results on in-vivo human and ex-vivo rodent datasets.
Exploring the Application of Compressed-SENSE Accelerated Fast MR Based Bone Imaging Method in CVJ Anomalies: Preliminary Experience
Authors: Ahmed Sabha , Saini Jitender , Pruthi Nupur , Uppar Alok , Rao Rashmi , Madan Kumar , Rolla Narayan , Saha Indrajit
Published: August 2023

Imaging analysis of craniovertebral junction anomalies comprises of bony, ligament, vascular and spinal cord evaluation. MDCT falls short in the evaluation of the latter while conventional MRI does not offer optimal bone resolution. Novel Compressed SENSE accelerated Fast field echo resembling a CT using restricted echo-spacing (CS-FRACTURE) technique is a bid to overcome this shortcoming in routine clinical setup and we aim to explore the same.
Quantitative MRI Reveals Nerve Pathology in a HNPP Mouse Model
Authors: Chen Yongsheng , Shen Yimin , Moiseev Daniel , Wazir Zafar , Hu Bo , Li Jun
Published: August 2023

Quantitative MRI (qMRI) methods were developed to measure T1, T2, proton density, and MTR of mouse sciatic nerve in-vivo. Pmp22+/- mouse, an animal model of hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies (HNPP), was imaged at 3- and 6-month of age. The imaging demonstrated an increase of MTR, and a decrease of proton density and T1 in the Pmp22+/- nerves, compared with those in wild-type nerves. These qMRI changes correlate with the growth of HNPP pathology – tomacula formed by excessive myelin folding over time. Ongoing experiment is to determine the pathological and molecular substrates responsible for the qMRI findings.
Brain cortical changes are related to SARS-CoV-2 inflammatory biomarkers in hospitalized patients with neurological manifestations
Authors: Sanabria-Diaz Gretel , Etter Manina Maja , Melie-Garcia Lester , Lieb Johanna , Psychogios Marios-Nikos , Hutter Gregor , Granziera Cristina
Published: August 2023

A quantitative imaging study is critical to detect cortical brain macrostructural alterations associated with an inflammatory response in hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 patients. Using automated processing of the 3D high-resolution T1-weighted anatomical images, we found a decrease of cortical gray matter volume and thickness, but not in the surface area related to increased levels in CSF protein, CSF blood/albumin ratio, and CSF EN-RAGE. The anatomical localization of these regions may be the in vivo hallmarks of the virus effect on the brain cortex due to a hyperinflammatory response and associated with neurological deficits presented in acute and post-Covid phases.
Robust Diffusion-Weighted Imaging with Deep Learning-Based DW PROPELLER Reconstruction
Authors: Wang Xinzeng , Ersoz Ali , Litwiller Daniel , Ma Jingfei , Stafford Jason , Bayram Ersin
Published: August 2023

Compared to DW-EPI, DW PROPELLER is less sensitive to susceptibility, chemical shift, and motion, and thus shows better image quality in areas, such as skull base, head-neck and pelvis. However, the SNR and in-plane resolution of DW PROPELLER images are often inferior to DW-EPI and often requires a longer scan time to compensate for this. In this work, we evaluated a deep-learning reconstruction method to improve the SNR of in-plane resolution of DW PROPELLER images without increasing acquisition time.
Wireless Physiological Motion Monitoring with an Integrated RF/Wireless Coil Array and MR-Compatible Ultrasound-Based System
Authors: Willey Devin , Dickinson Olivia , Overson Devon , Truong Trong-Kha , Robb Fraser , Song Allen , Madore Bruno , Darnell Dean
Published: August 2023

A wireless MR-compatible ultrasound-based device consisting of an integrated RF/wireless coil, organ-configuration motion sensor, Raspberry Pi, pulser/receiver, and analog-to-digital converters was developed to acquire, digitize, and wirelessly transmit ultrasound data while simultaneously acquiring MR-images. Experiments were performed to demonstrate the system's 1) mobility through continuously acquiring, digitizing, and wirelessly transmitting ultrasound data at multiple locations, and 2) ability to wirelessly monitor physiological motion during coughing/gasping. This integrated system enables the OCM sensor to travel with patients throughout the hospital while also demonstrating the ability of the iRFW coil and backend electronics to process and wirelessly transmit a high-fidelity signal.
Preliminary study of extracellular volume fraction in identifying pathological risk factors of early cervical cancer
Authors: Wang Wei , Li Yunxi , Zhang Mengchao , Jiang Yueluan
Published: August 2023

This study explored the feasibility of ECV based on T1 mapping evaluate early cervical cancer pathological characters, such as deep stromal invasion (DSI) and lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI). The ECV in the group with exceeding deep 1/2 of stromal invasion was significantly higher than that of the non-exceeding 1/2 group. DSI group was significantly higher than that in the non-DSI group. Our research shows that ECV based on T1 mapping could represent an emerging preoperative imaging biomarker for the classification of DSI of early cervical cancer.
Quantitative DCE-MRI Prediction of Breast Cancer Recurrence Following Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy
Authors: Thawani Rajat , Gao Lina , Mohinani Ajay , Tudorica Alina , Li Xin , Mitri Zahi , Huang Wei
Published: August 2023

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is considered standard of care for locally advanced breast cancer. Pre- and post-NAC MRI is routinely used to assess response. This study aims to investigate pre- and post-NAC quantitative DCE-MRI parameters, alone and in combination with clinico-pathologic variables, for prediction of breast cancer recurrence following NAC. 47 patients underwent DCE-MRI studies pre- and post-NAC. The results show that quantitative pharmacokinetic DCE-MRI parameters, whether alone or in combination with clinico-pathologic variables, outperformed tumor size measurement by conventional imaging in prediction of recurrence. Furthermore, DCE-MRI parameters provided added value in predictive performance when combined with clinico-pathologic variables.
Clinical Evaluation of a Lightweight, Flexible Pediatric RF Coil
Authors: Flores Ricardo , Tan Fei , Ohliger Michael , Larson Peder
Published: August 2023

In this abstract, we conducted a clinical evaluation of a prototype lightweight, flexible pediatric RF Coil. We evaluated the image quality on phantoms, an adult volunteer, and four pediatric clinical patients. For the phantom scans, identical 2D GRE protocols were prescribed between arrays and scanners for study reproducibility and accurate image comparisons. For the pediatric clinical patients, different anatomical studies were clinically ordered. Each study was reviewed clinically and found to achieve diagnostic quality with excellent tissue contrast, coverage, and SNR.
Limbic Predominant Age-related TDP-43 Encephalopathy Neuropathological Change (LATE-NC) is Associated with Lower Diffusion Anisotropy
Authors: Tazwar Mahir , Evia Arnold M. , Tamhane Ashish A. , Ridwan Abdur Raquib , Bennett David A. , Schneider Julie A. , Arfanakis Konstantinos
Published: August 2023

The MRI signature of limbic predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy neuropathological change (LATE-NC) has not been fully determined. In this work, we investigated the association of diffusion anisotropy with LATE-NC in autopsied brains of community-based older adults (N=148). Voxel-wise analysis revealed an independent association of lower fractional anisotropy (FA) with greater LATE-NC burden in medial temporal lobe white matter, controlling for other neuropathologies. The white matter connections implicated include fibers connecting cortical and subcortical regions where LATE-NC is typically found. Comparison of FA values across LATE-NC stages revealed that FA may allow detection of LATE-NC in later stages of the disease.
Sinogram Transformers: Accelerating Radial MRI using Vision Transformers
Authors: Parra David , Martin Phillip , Altbach Maria , Bilgin Ali
Published: August 2023

The aim of this work is to investigate the used of Transformer architectures in radial image reconstruction. While most deep-learning image reconstruction methods are based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs), recent advances in computer vision suggest that Transformer architecture may provide a favorable alternative in many vision tasks. In this work, we demonstrate that Transformer architectures can be used for sinogram interpolation and yield results comparable to CNNs.
Simultaneous acquisition of water-fat concentrations and velocity images using a Phase-contrast T2*-IDEAL method
Authors: Denecken Esteban , Arrieta Cristobal , Mella Hernán , Uribe Sergio
Published: August 2023

Phase-contrast in areas with a significant fat signal is subject to chemical shift artifacts where the fat signal interferes with the neighboring water signal. The purpose of this work is to present a novel method that combines phase-contrast with T2*-IDEAL water-fat separation to obtain water-fat concentrations and velocity images from a single acquisition. We validate our method using a numerical phantom with different combinations of water-fat concentrations, velocity, and noise, and MRI of a 2D axial section of the neck acquired in volunteers. PDFF comparisons showed a significant agreement between phase-contrast T2*-IDEAL and standard methods.
Robust and Computationally Efficient Missing Point and Phase Estimation for Multi-Channel Acquisition with ZTE Sequences
Authors: Corum Curtis , Kruger Stanley , Jacob Mathews , Magnotta Vincent , Holmes James
Published: August 2023

Missing point estimation has been a part of Fourier Transform NMR and MRI since the beginning. FID based imaging sequences, such as the ZTE (zero echo time) sequence, are missing needed data points corresponding to the region around the center of K-space. In multi-channel ZTE acquisitions, this estimate must be made for each channel. Missing data can be estimated by separate reference scans (WASPI and PETRA) but require extra time. In dynamic acquisitions missing points are optimally estimated from the data itself. Here we investigate applying a method borrowed from solid state NMR to estimate the missing points.
Forecasting glioblastoma response to anti-angiogenic therapy via image-driven mathematical models
Authors: Thiagarajan Tarini , Yankeelov Thomas , Hormuth David
Published: August 2023

A fundamental challenge in the care of patients with recurrent high-grade gliomas is the selection of appropriate salvage therapies to control further disease progression. To address this challenge, we have developed a biology-based mathematical model of tumor growth and response initialized and calibrated from patient-specific MRI data to predict which patients will respond to anti-angiogenic therapy. We evaluated the predictive accuracy of this image-driven modeling framework in an initial cohort of four patients. The model accurately predicted future total tumor cell number with an average error of 15%.
Automatic lung segmentation for hyperpolarized gas MRI using transferred generative adversarial network and three-view aggregation
Authors: Chao Shih-Kang , Shammi Ummul Afia , Flors-Blasco Lucia , Altes Talissa , Mugler John , Meyer Craig , Mata Jaime , Miller Wilson , Thomen Robert
Published: August 2023

We evaluate an automatic lung segmentation approach that aggregates the predicted mask of coronal, axial, and sagittal views generated by a deep conditional generative adversarial network (GAN) whose only input is the hyperpolarized gas (HPG) MRI. On five test subjects with ventilation defect percentages [VDP] of 25-38%, our method achieved an average Dice score of 87.72, and above 90 on a healthy control subject. The slice-wise Dice score had an average correlation of 0.72 with the human expert and a median correlation of -0.79 with VDP, and both are significant for 4 out of 5 test patients at level 1%.
Importance of linear-combination modeling for quantification of GABA and glutathione levels using Hadamard-edited MRS
Authors: song Yulu , Zöllner Helge , Hui Steve , Oeltzschner Georg , Prisciandaro James , Edden Richard
Published: August 2023

There are two main approaches for modeling edited spectra: simple Gaussian modeling, and linear-combination modeling based on simulated metabolite basis functions. The simple Gaussian modeling of GSH in Gannet was reported to be less reproducible for HERMES than for MEGA-PRESS. Recent consensus recommended linear-combination modeling for quantification of edited MRS. Here we compared the performance of simple Gaussian and linear-combination modeling on a test-retest dataset to display the improvement of the reproducibility of metabolite quantification with HERMES.
Dynamic 3D Stack-of-Radial PRF MR Thermometry to Monitor High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Heating: Validation in a Tissue Motion Phantom
Authors: Dai Qing , Zhang Le , Li Xinzhou , Yu Pengkang , Tsao Tsu-Chin , Wu Holden
Published: August 2023

Multi-baseline proton resonant frequency (PRF) shift MR thermometry has been proposed to address the potential mismatch between baseline images and images during thermal therapy in moving organs. Previous methods had to compromise the spatial coverage to increase temporal resolution for resolving motion. This work developed a dynamic 3D stack-of-radial multi-baseline PRF MR thermometry method to monitor high-intensity focused ultrasound heating in moving tissue. The proposed method achieved stable and accurate thermometry with volumetric coverage and high spatiotemporal resolution, validated in a tissue motion phantom with temperature probe measurements.
Cell sorting microbeads as novel contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging
Authors: Khurana Aman , Marti Francesc , Gedaly Roberto , Chapelin Fanny
Published: August 2023

Due to their low cytoplasmic capacity and phagocytic activity, T cells have consistently been challenging to label for MR tracking applications. We developed a one-stop shop approach where the T cell sorting agent also labels the cells which can subsequently be imaged using non-invasive MRI. We demonstrate positive intracellular localization of the beads in Treg cells by means of histopathology analyses and MRI signal effects in phantoms containing different amounts of labeled cells.
A High RF Bandwidth Diffusion Preparation for Diffusion Weighted Imaging Near Metallic Implants
Authors: Lee Philip , Yoon Daehyun , Sandberg Jesse , Vasanawala Shreyas , Hargreaves Brian
Published: August 2023

There is no widely adopted clinical protocol for diffusion weighted imaging near metal since the commonly used EPI trajectory fails completely due to distortion from off-resonance. We combine the magnetization prepared, stimulated echo diffusion preparation with 3D MSI encoding to enable volumetric diffusion weighted imaging near metal in clinically feasible times. Imaging time is reduced by a factor of 2× with high RF bandwidth root-flipped Shinnar-Le Roux refocusing pulses since spectral coverage can be maintained with fewer excitations. Joint design of the excitation and refocusing pulses reduces B1 sensitivity.
Comparison of 64-channel and 32-channel head arrays at 7T and 10.5T in full-wave simulation
Authors: Zhang Bei , Radder Jerahmie , Grant Andrea , Lagore Russell , Waks Matt , Tavaf Nader , Van De Moortele Pierre-francois , Adriany Gregor , Lattanzi Riccardo , Ugurbil Kamil
Published: August 2023

Idealized analytical electromagnetic (EM) models predict a spatially non-uniform signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) gain with increasing coil elements and magnetic field strength. Using realistic EM models, we calculated the performance of prototype 32- and 64-channel receive head arrays at 7T and 10.5T using full-wave simulation with a head-mimicking gel phantom. We obtained SNR and g-factor results in agreement with predictions from ultimate intrinsic calculations, showing ~2-fold SNR gains for a large central region for 64 channels at 10.5T vs. 7T, and lower g-factors with the higher field and higher channel counts; peripheral SNR depended on both field magnitude and channel count.
Left ventricular-aorta energy efficiency in patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot
Authors: Yang Yu-Ru , Chang Meng-Chu , Wu Ming-Ting , Weng Ken-Pen , Peng Hsu-Hsia
Published: August 2023

In this study, we defined a ratio of aortic KE and LV KE to represent LV-Ao efficiency. We aimed to evaluate LV-Ao energy efficiency in rTOF patients and evaluate the relationship between LV-Ao efficiency and RV hypertrophy. The aortic root KE, LV KE, and LV-Ao efficiency in rTOF group were comparable with normal group. The indexed LV-Ao efficiency was negatively correlated with age and RV volumetric parameters. The association between LV-Ao efficiency and age and RV hypertrophy suggested that the adverse interaction between RV and LV was expanded to the aorta in rTOF patients with preserved LV function.
Diagnostic value of diffusion-weighted MR imaging in acute myocardial infarction
Authors: Lv Zhenfeng , Wu Lianming , Zhang Jilei , Chen Weibo , Qi Haikun
Published: August 2023

Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), being able to detect the diffusion of water molecules in the tissue, is one of the potential techniques for the diagnosis of myocardial infarction without contrast agent administration. In this study, we investigated the diagnostic value of the mono-exponential and stretched exponential DWI model in the assessment of acute myocardial infarction. The preliminary results from 10 patients showed that the diffusion parameters were significantly lower in the infarcted region, and both models had capability of diagnosing acute myocardial infarction with the stretched exponential model performing slightly better.
Left ventricular myocardial motion and fibrosis in patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot
Authors: Wang Hung-Wei , Wu Ming-Ting , Weng Ken-Pen , Peng Hsu-Hsia
Published: August 2023

Repaired tetralogy of Fallot (rTOF) caused diffuse fibrosis due to adverse ventricular reconstruction. T1 mapping was employed to observe the diffuse fibrosis. In patients, the native T1 and peak diastolic longitudinal velocity (Vz) were found to be different from the normal group. We aimed to investigate the relationship between left ventricular myocardial motion and myocardial fibrosis in patients with rTOF.
The feasibility of cardiac magnetic resonance myocardial feature tracking in evaluating patients with atrial fibrillation
Authors: Li Jianhui , Liu Yanzhen , Ma Yanhe , Yu Anhong , Yang Yapeng , Sun Jiwei , Lian Jianxiu , Zhang Hong
Published: August 2023

Atrial fibrillation increases mortality and is an independent risk factor for heart failure and stroke. Cardiac magnetic resonance feature tracking (CMR-FT) is a post-processing technique that can quantitatively assess myocardial deformation. The result showed that patients with Atrial fibrillation had lower left ventricle longitudinal strain (LVLS) and left atrial longitudinal strain（LALS）compared with healthy control，which may due to impaired function and myocardial injury. Therefore, measuring the longitudinal strain of the left atrium and left ventricle can be used as an important method to evaluate the function of patients with atrial fibrillation.
Fast High-Resolution 3D MRSI and T2 Mapping for Clinical Outcome Prediction of Ischemic Stroke Patients
Authors: Meng Ziyu , Wang Tianyao , Bo Bin , Guo Rong , Li Yudu , Zhao Yibo , Yu Xin , Liang Zhi-Pei , Li Yao
Published: August 2023

Characterization of the underlying pathophysiological changes associated with edema progression is essential for treatment guidance in ischemic stroke. 1H-MRSI and quantitative T2 mapping can acquire image markers related to the physiological states of brain tissues. This study investigated the neurometabolite changes in relation to the development of vasogenic edema in ischemic stroke patients, using fast high-resolution 3D MRSI and T2 mapping techniques. Our results showed that neurometabolite concentrations were strongly correlated with T2 values within ischemic lesion of stroke patients and integrated T2 and neurometabolite biomarkers improved the prediction accuracy of stroke patients' clinical outcome.
Assessment of myocardial involvement in patients with Fabry disease using metabolic imaging by 1H-MR Spectroscopy (1H-MRS)
Authors: Shiotani Masaru , Morita Yoshiaki , Ichiba Yoshito , Nagai Yasuhiro , Ueki Wataru , Yamamoto Tatsuhiro , Ohta Yasutoshi , Murakawa Keizo , Fukuda Tetsuya
Published: August 2023

The peak ratio of 3.5ppm to water in 1H-MRS of myocardium showed the higher values in Fabry disease and the association with native T1 values and regional function. 1H-MRS has a potential as disease-specific imaging biomarker for direct quantification of myocardial sphingolipid accumulation of Fabry disease.
Combination of strain with LGE can improve diagnostic ability for differentiation hypertrophic cardiomyopathy from hypertensive heart disease
Authors: Liu Shengliang , Lian Jianxiu , Li Yunling , Wang Guokun , Li Haixia , Wang Xueying , Zhao Yanming , Xu Bing , Yu Bo
Published: August 2023

To evaluate the value of left ventricular radial strain (LVRS) and left ventricular circumferential strain (LVCS) in discriminating between hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and hypertensive heart disease (HHD) by using cardiac magnetic resonance feature tracking (CMR-FT). HCM patients presented higher values of LVRS and LVCS when compared with HHD patients. And both LVRS and LVCS correlated obviously with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in HCM patients. Furthermore, the combination of strain with LGE can significantly improve the diagnostic ability for differentiation HCM from HHD (AUC: 0.86; sensitivity: 86.9 %; specificity: 76.3 %).
Venous Response in Brains with Ischemic Stroke Assessed with Susceptibility-Based MR Imaging
Authors: Zhou Shihui , Wei Zhiqiang , Qi Yulong , Yi Li , Cai Siqi , Jiang Chunxiang , Zhang* Lijuan
Published: August 2023

Venous response has been overlooked in the characterization of ischemic stroke (IS). In this study, vein density (VD) and oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) were assessed as indices of venous response for both the ipsi- and contra-lesional hemispheres in a cohort of patient with corona radiata IS using susceptibility MR imaging. Relative VD and OEF (ratios between the averaged ipsilesional and contralesional measurements) increased from early (1-7 days) to late subacute stages of IS (7-15 days). Patients with lesion in right corona radiata showed more extensive interhemispheric difference in OEF, suggesting an anatomy specific distribution of the venous response after IS.
NAFLD and Hepatic Inflammation: Multi-modal MR-Investigations of Disease Progression
Authors: Simonsson Christian , Karlsson Markus , Nasr Patrik , Sinkus Ralph , Ignatova Simone , Dahlström Nils , Ekstedt Mattias , Kechagias Stergios , Lundberg Peter
Published: August 2023

Several MR-biomarkers characterizing different aspects of NAFLD progression, especially for the early onset, and late stages, are available. However, there is a need to combine and characterize, not only the endpoints but also the intermediate stages of the disease, in particular the early stages of hepatic inflammation. Using an extensive multi-modal MRI protocol, we have investigated correlations between different MR-biomarkers with histopathology measurements of hepatic inflammation, fat accumulation and fibrosis. The long-term aim of this research is to characterize each patient in the early to intermediate stages of disease progression, with a higher degree of precision.
Longitudinal evolution of liver imaging reporting and Data system Version 2018 category 2, 3, and 4 observations in cirrhosis on MRI
Authors: Xing Fei , Zhao Xiance
Published: August 2023

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the category modifications and prognosis of LI-RADS 2,2 and 4 observations in cirrhosis on MRI. We retrospectively analyzed 105 LR-2 , 97 LR-3, and 43 LR-4 observations following-up datas. Follow-up duration and category modifications that progressed, remained stable, or decreased were recorded for each observation. Our study showed that LR-2, LR-3 and LR-4 lesions in liver cirrhosis patients present with different natural disease courses and outcomes, the lesions with a higher LI-RADS category have a higher cumulative incidence of progression to LR-5/-TIV lesion, thus demonstrating an increasing risk of developing HCC.
3D-isotropic T1WI in liver MRI with compressed sensing and artificial intelligence reconstruction
Authors: Zheng Shuang , Zhang Lei , Zhang Huimao , Wang Zhuo , Sun Yuejiao , Zhu Yi , Jiang Ke
Published: August 2023

3D-isotropic volumetric data acquisition provides higher spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratios, and facilitates multi-planar reformations. But the application was limited due to long scan time. Recently, compressed sensing (CS) has been proposed as a new method for reducing the number of k-space samples. However, one of the drawbacks of CS is a relatively lower SNR than for PI (parallel imaging). Artificial intelligence reconstruction has been introduced for improving imaging quality. The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of 3D-isotropic T1 weighted imaging (T1WI) with compressed sense AI reconstruction in the liver magnetic resonance imaging.
Assessment of susceptibility-weighted Imaging in the staging of liver fibrosis
Authors: Jin Xuan , Li Xinming , Ke Qiying , Zhang Tianyuan , Li Jing , Bai Bingbing , Quan Xianyue , Zhao Chen
Published: August 2023

Diagnosing and staging liver fibrosis arouse worldwide concern, and the value of susceptibility-weighted Imaging (SWI) score combined with serum indexes in staging liver fibrosis is controversial. The objective of this study was to assess if SWI score combined with serum indexes could increase the accuracy of staging liver fibrosis. With the help of multivariate ordered logistic regression model, SWI score and serum indexes showed significant correlations with stages of liver fibrosis.
An Automatic Abdomen MR-Quantification based on a Simultaneous Multi-Parameter Mapping within 3 Breath-holds and deep-learning Segmentation
Authors: Zhou Min-xiong , Qu Zheng , Liu Yun , Zhong Haodong , Song Yang , Yang Guang , Li Jianqi , Yan Xu
Published: August 2023

For automatic abdomen quantification, a rapid and simultaneous multi-parameter mapping method was evaluated, which could acquire quantitative R1, R2* and PDFF indices within 3-4 breath-holds. By adopting automatic organ segmentation, it could directly generate MR quantitative information for liver, kidney and spleen, which could be potentially used for liver pathology evaluation. The result showed that the multi-parameter sequence could generate high-quality R1, R2* and PDFF maps, with well B1 field correction and fat signal separation.
A comparative study of non-PTX‑zoom‑DWI with conventional DWI in bladder cancer lesion display and muscular invasion diagnosis
Authors: Zhang Zhenming , Xue Naiming , Jiang Yueluan , Guo Lulu , Zhang Mengchao , Gao Bo , Zhao Shishun , Liu Lin , Benkert Thomas
Published: August 2023

The value of non-parallel-transmission zoom-diffusion weighted imaging (non-PTX zoom-DWI) compared with conventional DWI in the diagnosis of bladder cancer muscular invasion is investigated. Results show that non-PTX zoom-DWI improves sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy. Additionally, it has good diagnostic consistency across different readers, and shows better display of bladder than conventional DWI sequence. Non-PTX zoom-DWI may be superior to conventional DWI in predicting the muscular invasion in bladder cancer.
Water specific T1 mapping for characterization of inflammation grades at early stage in Rats with Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
Authors: Wan Qian , Peng Hao , Lyu Jianxun , Wang Yi , Liu Feng , Cheng Chuanli , Qiao Yangzi , Zheng Hairong , Liu Xin , Zou Chao
Published: August 2023

Detection of inflammation is important to the NAFLD patients. Liver biopsy is limited by the sampling error. T1 quantification from MRI is believed to be one of promising imaging method to detect inflammation. However, intracellular hepatocyte lipid is a confounding factor for the accurate T1 quantitation in the case of the NAFLD. This study established a variable flip-angle multi-echo GRE sequence to produce the T1 value of water component (wT1) in a NAFLD rat model who underwent biopsy. The results indicate that wT1 could discriminate between moderate and severe inflammation stages (G2 +G3) from the no and mild stages (G0+G1).
The spectrum of MRI-PDFF, MRS, and two different histopathologic methods (AI vs. pathologist) in the quantification of hepatic steatosis
Authors: Kim Jeong Woo , Lee Chang Hee
Published: August 2023

The aim of our study was to 1) provide spectrum of values of multi-echo mDixon MRI-PDFF, FFMRS, and FFs measured by two different histopathologic methods (pathologist and automatic fat vacuole segmentation), and 2) to evaluate the correlation among them. The values of MRI-PDFF and FFMRS were significantly higher than FFAI and significantly lower than FFpathologist. Except for one case (97.9%,46/47), FFMRS always showed higher value than MRI-PDFF and the average difference was 2.06 %. MRS and MRI-PDFF showed strong correlation with each other and with each histopathologic method. MRI-PDFF or MRS could be used as an alternative non-invasive reference standard.
Optimal breath-hold dynamic liver MRI using a combination of compressed sensing with contrast-enhanced timing robust angiography technique
Authors: Kawai Nobuyuki , Noda Yoshifumi , Kaga Tetsuro , Kajita Kimihiro , Matsuo Masayuki
Published: August 2023

Rapid dynamic liver MRI with compressed-sensing sensitivity encoding (Compressed SENSE) can reduce respiratory motion artifacts. However, Since the central k-space filling is random or posterior half of the acquisition in Compressed SENSE, optimal acquisition timing is missed only using a conventional scan delay method for hepatic arterial dominant phase (HAP). We assessed a combination of Compressed SENSE with contrast enhanced robust angiography (CENTRA) for dynamic liver MRI. CS-CENTRA sequence achieved significantly higher arterial enhancement with comparable CNR compared to CS-conventional one in HAP. CS-CENTRA contributed to optimal acquisition timing for HAP.
Improved Differentiation of Benign and Malignant Breast Lesions with Synthetic Relaxometry and Kaiser Score
Authors: Meng Lingsong , Zhao Xin , Guo Jinxia , Lu Lin , Xing Qingna , Guo Yafei , Shang Honglei , Zhang Penghua , Sun Yongbing , Zhang Xiaoan
Published: August 2023

Early detection and accurate characterization can reduce significantly the death rates of breast cancer patients. Kaiser score (KS) demonstrates robust and wonderful performance in the assessment of breast lesions. Nevertheless, this scoring system lacks quantitative parameters, which may lead to false negatives, especially for breast cancers exhibiting atypical morphological features. In this study, the quantitative value from Synthetic MRI was added to the KS assessment to improve the differentiation of the malignant and benign breast lesions.