Transcript UIC Office of Technology Management Technology Screening

1
Method for Simultaneous MR
Elastography and Diffusion Acquisitions:
Diffusion-MRE (dMRE)
Technology Overview
MR elastography (MRE) is an emerging imaging
technology that is capable of assessing tissue
stiffness through the visualization and analysis of
low-frequency mechanical shear waves. In the
brain, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is now
well established for the clinical assessment of
stroke patients, and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)
is very useful for the detection of brain diseases
associated with myelin and axonal injuries.. In
addition, diffusion MRI has recently been
extended to abdominal targets, particularly in the
liver.
Recently, diffusion-MRI and MRE have been used
together to noninvasively characterize biological
tissue, providing complementary information for
the diagnosis of diseases. Currently, MRE and
diffusion MRI acquisitions are performed as
separate measurements that prolong the imaging
protocols. UIC inventors have invented a new
technique called diffusion-MRE (dMRE),that
integrates these approaches into one
simultaneous acquisition.
Technology Quick Facts
Details
In our new dMRE technique, diffusion and
MRE wave motions are encoded into the
phase and magnitude components of the MR
signal by using a pair of bipolar gradients for
both motion sensitization and diffusion
encoding. The pulse sequence timing is
adjusted so that the bipolar gradients are
sensitive to both coherent and incoherent
intravoxel motion.
Applications
• For brain and abdominal targets where
MRE derived parameters such as shear
stiffness, and diffusion parameters such
as the apparent diffusion coefficient, are
both needed.
Benefits
• Allows concurrent acquisition of
complementary MRE and diffusion
imaging data, while reducing scan times.
Reference Number
DH039
Inventors
Dr. Dieter Klatt
Ziying Yin
Dr. Richard Magin
Campus
Chicago
Patent Application
61/908,874
Publication
Yin, Z., Magin, R. L. and Klatt,
D. (2014), Simultaneous MR
elastography and diffusion
acquisitions: Diffusion-MRE
(dMRE). Magn Reson Med.
doi: 10.1002/mrm.25180
Contact information:
Jennifer Andrew
312-996-1595
[email protected]