- Musculoskeletal Imaging:
Osteoarthritis affects almost all of the population at some
stage of life. MRI is the most accurate non-invasive method
of diagnosing cartilage lesions. Non-invasive imaging would
reduce the costs assocated with arthroscopy, and allow earlier
treatment of osteoarthritis. More importantly, as treatments of
arthritis evolve, MRI can be used to assess the response of
cartilage to treatments. Cartilage imaging demands efficient imaging
with high contrast between cartilage and surrounding tissues.
We are exploring the application of new imaging methods to
cartilage imaging. Much of this work is already in the
clinical arena, as musculoskeletal imaging already accounts
for as many as 70% of body MRI exams.
- Breast Imaging:
Breast cancer is one of the most commonly occurring
cancers, which, with early diagnosis is also one of the
most treatable. Current screening techniques, primarily
X-ray mammography lack sensitivity to early stage tumors.
MR screening is sensitive, but not yet specific enough
to justify the increased cost. New contrast mechanisms,
combined with rapid, high resolution imaging will be
essential in this area where MRI has huge potential
for reducing mortality.
- Cardiovascular Imaging:
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death
in developed countries. Non-invasive imaging of the
cardiovascular system continues to be a hot research area,
as early diagnosis of heart disease allows quicker and
simpler treatment. Rapid imaging methods are very useful in
cardiac imaging, as they are less susceptible to motion artifacts.
Rapid imaging can also be used for contrast-enhanced perfusion.
- Abdominal Imaging:
MRI of non-cardiac areas of the abdomen is still limited
by motion artifacts and spatial resolution when compared to
X-ray computed tomography (CT). Implementation of current
and new techniques for motion correction and more rapid
scanning continues to be important for most areas of Abdominal
MRI.
Technical Development
- RF Pulse Design: There are many areas where new excitation
pulses can be tailored to specific applications. There are a
few areas where completely new design frameworks would be
useful as well.
- Reconstruction Algorithms: This is a very broad area that
includes non-Cartesian image reconstruction (such as gridding),
various corrections for off-resonance, gradient imperfections
and undersampling, as well as retrospective contrast mechanisms
(for example fat/water separation), and finally segmentation and
analysis tools.
- Rapid Imaging: Rapid imaging methods include
multiple spin echo sequences, rapid gradient echo,
spoiled gradient echo and balanced SSFP. I have worked
predominently on balanced SSFP, which is one of the most
efficient of these methods, but which sill has numerous
technical limitations. All of these methods will play
some role in most of the above clinical applications.
Programming an MRI scanner is a skill that
takes C programmers background
8-12 months to learn.
This is the most useful skill
that a student in MRI pulse sequence development can learn
and continue to develop.
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3D femoral cartilage images.
(2:30 Scan time)
3D Lower Leg Vasculature
(75 second Scan time)
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