Speaker
Mr
Anastasios Karatopis
(Department of medical instrumentation,Technological educational institution/2nd Department of Radiology, Medical School, University of Athens)
Description
In the era of molecular imaging, in-vivo 1H Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)
and spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) are impacting dramatically upon virtually all
areas of clinical medicine. MRS and MRSI should be able to identify key biochemical
changes, much before the tumour becomes detectable by other functional imaging
methods that mainly rely upon single markers that are not entirely sensitive or
specific for malignant activity. Combined with other imaging techniques in a
rapidly advancing modality like MRI offer the ability to estimate the presence of
metabolites yields much information regarding tissue. Molecular imaging through
magnetic resonance could be potentially suited for screening and repeated
monitoring since it entails no exposure to ionizing radiation. Incorporation of
these tools in clinical practice is, however, limited due to the considerable
amount of user intervention. In this work various acquisition parameters and their
effects in spectrum quality are investigated. In order to assess the quality of
various spectroscopic techniques (2D and multi-slice MRSI, multiple echo SI), a
series of experiments were conducted using a standard solution. The application of
water and fat suppression techniques and their compatibility with other parameters
were also investigated. The stability of the equipment, the appearance of errors
and artifacts and the reproducibility of the results were also examined to obtain
useful conclusions for the interaction of acquisition parameters. All the data were
processed with specialized computer software (jMRUI 2.2) to analyze various aspects
of the measurements and quantify various parameters such as signal to noise ratio
(SNR), full width at half maximum (FWHM), peak height and j-modulation. The
experience acquired from the conducted experiments was successfully applied in
acquisition parameter optimization and improvement of clinical applications (2D
MRSI of prostate, brain and muscle MRS) by significantly improving the spectrum
quality, SNR (up to 75%), spatial resolution in 2D MRSI, water and fat suppression
and in some cases reducing exam times (up to 60%).
Authors
Mr
Anastasios Karatopis
(Department of medical instrumentation,Technological educational institution/2nd Department of Radiology, Medical School, University of Athens)
Prof.
Ioannis Kandarakis
(Department of medical instrumentation-Technological educational institution)
Co-authors
Prof.
Eustathios Eustathopoulos
(2nd Department of Radiology, Medical School, University of Athens)
Dr
Nicolaos Kelekis
(2nd Department of Radiology, Medical School, University of Athens)
Mr
Odysseas Benekos
(2nd Department of Radiology, Medical School, University of Athens)
