Method to Normalize Magnetic Resonance Images Across Sources and Guide Personalized Medicine
- Technology Benefits
- Compatibilitywith current MRI equipment and existing protocolsAbility to beapplied retrospectively to most MRI images Noninvasivetesting of an epigenetic biomarker Accurate inference of a glioblastoma subtype from MR images
- Detailed Technology Description
- Amagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) normalizing method that guides personalizedmedicine and enables clinicians to compare MR images from different scanners, acquisitionprotocols and throughout time. #healthcare #MRI#imaging #diagnostics #researchtool #method
- *Abstract
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Conventional MRI sequences used for tumor imaginginclude T1, T2, FLAIR, T1 post contrast sequences. While these MRI techniquesare omnipresent in institutions across the country, the acquisition process mayvary in adjustable parameters such as repetition time (TR) or echo time (TE), andpulse sequence, making MR images acquired from different institutions orscanners uncomparable. Northwestern researchers have developed a method whichprovides a universal normalization to MRI datasets. Specifically, the methodnormalizes MR images by producing maps of quantitative physiological parametersbased on signal models associated with the original acquisition procedure. The methodenables large scale, cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of drug responsein clinical trials, and can also guide personalized medicine based on theunderstanding that certainphysiological imaging features are reflected in MR images. Forexample, greatersensitivity to temozolomide chemotherapy is exhibited by glioblastoma tumorsthat have methylated O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase promoter (pMGMT) site on chromosome 10q26.Traditionally, quantifying chromosome methylation would require biopsy, whichis an invasive procedure and prone to sampling error. With the described method, pMGMT methylation can be inferrednoninvasively from the ApparentDiffusion Coefficient (ADC) values from the tumors’ MRimages.Similarly, the described method can be used for quantifying and standardizing the changes in the T1 relaxation time associated withchronic demyelination, the cause of multiple sclerosis, without altering the existing scan protocols. The method is a retrospectivequantification of tissue magnetic relaxation properties (T1 and T2), and thus can be integratedinto any ongoing MRI-based study protocol.
- Country/Region
- USA
