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Scientific Lectures //

Whole Brain Metabolite Imaging

Andrew Maudsley, Ph.D.- Professor of Radiology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami

Presented: August 17, 2015

ABSTRACT: Imaging of MR-observable metabolites in the brain can be carried out using MR Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI), with numerous potential clinical applications, including studies of psychiatric disorders, neurodegenerative disease, and cancer. Current vendor-provided implementations of MRSI remain limited in terms of spatial coverage, typically using a PRESS-selected volume for a single slice within the brain, and often involve additional setup or processing requirements. However, by making use of high-speed MRI methods and alternative signal excitation approaches MRSI can be implemented as a “whole brain” volumetric imaging technique. These MRSI methods offer advantages for mapping metabolites over a much wider volume, although they also present new challenges; including handling the large amounts of data and the wide range of spectral quality. In this presentation approaches for modifying the acquisition and processing methods to achieve whole-brain metabolite imaging will be described, together with additional capabilities such as normalization of metabolite signal intensities and using image-based statistical analysis methods that facilitate longitudinal measurements or comparisons between subjects. Example results for studies of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, epilepsy localization, and brain cancer will be presented.

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