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Stanford researchers have developed a new MRI approach for measuring the health of brain tissue to monitor swelling and inflammation.
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Summary Stanford researchers have developed a new MRI approach for measuring the health of brain tissue to monitor swelling and inflammation. The method quantifies the volume and exposed surface area of cell membranes in the brain tissue using a novel acquisition scheme and a simple calculation. The invention measures the non-water tissue fraction and the MR T1 relaxation time in the brain. Combining these values allow to measure membrane volumes and surface contents. Results showed that this measurement is sensitive to differences in the myelin content in different regions within the gray matter, the white matter (WM), and even at different positions within the corpus callosum. The methods reliably distinguish, quantify and characterize MS patient lesions and normal appearing WM. The advantages of this method are that it is quantitative, measures at high spatial resolution (< 1 mm, isotropic) with short scan times (10 minutes vs. 1 hour), and is based on simple calculations. Although developed for brain analysis, this approach can also be applicable to many other types of biological tissue. Stage of Research: This method has been tested and shown to be reliable, repeatable, and sensitive in quantifying the tissue volume and constant and in the brain and in lipids phantoms. It is currently being tested as a tool to define MS lesions and normal appearing WM. As well as differences within a normal population chances along the life span. Applications Assess clinical WM impairments Assess WM development and aging Test for brain-behavior correlations Use in the processing pipeline for brain tissue segmentation Can quantitatively assess tissue macromolecule measurements in other scanned areas such as (spinal core, knee, etc.) Advantages Direct quantification of tissue content in the brain Better identification of diseased areas Increases quantification of MRI scans Improves the ability to segment brain tissues Fast, easy, and high resolution imaging methods Measurement is easy to acquire and makes use of short sequence available in any commercial magnet High spatial resolution (<1mm3) Short scan times (10 minutes vs. 1 hour) No fitting noise - does not require complex processing Based on simple calculations Broad applications, not just the brain