Technical development related to functional brain MR imaging: Experience at Tri-Service General Hospital

Hsiao-Wen Chung

Department of Electrical Engineering

National Taiwan University, Taipei

& Department of Radiology

Tri-Service General Hospital and National Defense Medical Center, Taipei

The emergent availability of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging systems in radiology departments in recent years has raised the need in continuous understanding of this relatively complicated modality, to avoid possible mis-interpretation of the results and to maximize its usage. Learning physical principles can be an unpleasant load for the radiologists, yet is also important in terms of improving diagnostic quality and promoting further MR developments.

    This lecture will mainly address the role of the MR physicist affiliated in a clinically oriented hospital, which is a perhaps necessary occupation in world-leading radiology teams but relatively uncommon in Taiwan. Experience at the Tri-Service General Hospital for technical developments in the past seven years that provided some assistance in the clinical practice will be shared. This will cover scanning parameter optimization for artifact-free imaging, pulse sequence developments on diffusion tensor imaging with eddy-current compensation, post-processing software for calculation of anisotropy indices and for white matter tractography, and objective image analysis suitable for various purposes. The major focus in this lecture will be the applications to central nervous system investigations, including diffusion imaging in ischemic stroke, neural fiber displacement in the presence of brain tumor, phase-contrast hydrodynamic analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid in the aqueduct of Sylvius, blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) functional imaging in the brain, and so forth. Miscellaneous issues and cautions related to the use of fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) and time-of-flight MR angiography will also be briefly discussed.