Celal Oezerdem¹, Till Huelnhagen¹, Lukas Winter¹, and Thoralf Niendorf^1,2
1Berlin Ultrahigh Field Facility (B.U.F.F), Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Berlin, Germany, ²Experimental and Clinical Research Center, a joint cooperation between the Charité Medical Faculty and the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Berlin, Germany

This pilot study demonstrates the feasibility of abdominal imaging and parametric T₂^* mapping of the liver and kidney at 7.0T by employing a 16 channel electrical dipole RF array. The large field of view and rather uniform excitation field enabled by the proposed bow tie antenna array affords comprehensive anatomic coverage and enhanced spatial resolution. Our initial results suggest that high spatial resolution anatomic and functional UHF-MR can be of benefit for clinical liver and kidney imaging.

Yong Chen¹, Bhairav Mehta¹, Jesse Hamilton², Dan Ma¹, Nicole Seiberlich², Mark Griswold¹, and Vikas Gulani^1
1Department of Radiology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States, ²Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States

In this study, a free-breathing quantitative abdominal imaging method was developed using the MRF technique in combined with navigators, which allows simultaneous and volumetric quantification of multiple tissue properties in abdomen.

Iris FRIEDLI¹, Lindsey Alexandra CROWE¹, Lena BERCHTOLD², Solange MOLL³, Karine HADAYA², Thomas DE PERROT¹, Pierre-Yves MARTIN², Sophie DE SEIGNEUX², and Jean-Paul VALLEE^1
1Department of Radiology, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland, ²Department of Nephrology, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland, ³Department of Pathology, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland

Multi-parametric studies are beginning to emerge in renal disease assessment. However these studies investigated each MR parameter independently and compare the MR sequences but do not combine multiple parameters in a single statistic. In this multi-parametric 3T MR study, the sensitivity of T1 mapping and Readout Segmentation Of Long Variable Echo train (RESOLVE) DWI parameters was first independently evaluated and compared against interstitial fibrosis of 31 Chronic Kidney Disease patients undergoing renal biopsy. The two MR parameters were then associated in a single statistic with the hypothesis that used together they can improve the non-invasive detection of interstitial fibrosis. 

Andreas Pohlmann¹, Karen Arakelyan^1,2, Leili Riazy¹, Till Huelnhagen¹, Stefanie Kox¹, Kathleen Cantow², Sonia Waiczies¹, Bert Flemming², Erdmann Seeliger², and Thoralf Niendorf^1
1Berlin Ultrahigh Field Facility, Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany, ²Institute of Physiology, Charite Universitaetsmedizin, Berlin, Germany

Acute kidney injuries are often characterized by tissue oxygen hypoxia. T₂*-mapping permits probing renal oxygenation but provides a surrogate rather than a quantitative measure of oxygen saturation. The link between pO₂ and T₂* is influenced by changes in blood volume fraction (BVf). Monitoring BVf in combination with recently developed quantitative BOLD approaches could permit unambiguous interpretation of renal T₂*. To test the feasibility of this new approach we monitored renal T₂*/T₂ during baseline and short periods of venous occlusion. This was performed in the same animal under naïve conditions and again with USPIO to permit estimation of BVf and SO₂.

Jie Luo^1,2, Esra Abaci Turk^1,2, Carolina Bibbo³, Borjan Gagoski¹, Mark Vangel⁴, Clare M Tempany-Afdhal⁵, Norberto Malpica⁶, Arvind Palanisamy⁷, Elfar Adalsteinsson^2,8,9, Julian N Robinson³, and Patricia Ellen Grant^1
1Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging & Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States, ²Madrid-MIT M+Vision Consortium in RLE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States, ³Maternal and Fetal Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States, ⁴Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States, ⁵Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States, ⁶Medical Image Analysis and Biometry Laboratory, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain, ⁷Division of Obstetric Anesthesia, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States, ⁸Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States, ⁹Harvard- MIT Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States

Adequate oxygen transport across the placenta from mother to fetus is critical for fetal growth and development. In this pilot study, BOLD MRI with maternal hyperoxygenation show great potential in differentiating IUGR fetuses from controls. Not only the placentae show significant difference in rate of oxygen uptake, fetal organs also have distinct response to exposure to hyperoxia. Differences between fetal brain and liver responses to hyperoxygenation are observed in some cases, which might suggest variations in fetal hemodynamic autoregulation. 

Tania Buehler¹, Lia Bally², Ayse Sila Dokumaci¹, Christoph Stettler², and Chris Boesch^1
1Depts. Radiology and Clinical Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, ²Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Clinical Nutrition, Inselspital Bern, Bern, Switzerland

In comparison to healthy subjects, there is scarce data on the influence of different carbohydrate-types on the metabolism in exercising individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Based on ¹³C-MRS, blood sampling, stable isotopes, and indirect calorimetry the impact of glucose-fructose and glucose-alone was investigated in T1DM subjects without prior insulin reduction. Glucose-fructose ingestion showed a shift in fuel metabolism towards increased fat oxidation and potential glycogen sparing effects. Despite the negative reputation of fructose it seems to be a more efficient fuel in exercising T1DM subjects, since blood glucose levels are not immediately elevated due to its different metabolization.

Philippe Garteiser¹, Sabrina Doblas¹, Jean-Baptiste Cavin¹, André Bado¹, Vinciane Rebours^1,2, Maude Le Gall¹, Anne Couvelard^1,3, and Bernard E Van Beers^1,4
1Center For Research on Inflammation, Inserm U1149, Paris, France, ²Pancreatology Unit, AP-HP, Beaujon Hospital, Clichy, France, ³Pathology department, AP-HP, Bichat Hospital, Paris, France,⁴Radiology department, AP-HP, Beaujon Hospital, Clichy, France

Multiparametric assessment of pancreas in the obese rat was used to evaluate alterations linked to obesity-mediated inflammation. Mechanical properties and T2* values are significantly affected by disease, and reflect accurately the histological features of the obese pancreas.

Madhwesha Rao¹, Neil J Stewart¹, Graham Norquay¹, Paul D Griffiths¹, and Jim M Wild^1
1Academic unit of Radiology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

Xenon is an inert noble gas which can be safely inhaled. In the lungs, it diffuses into the bloodstream and is then transported to distal organs (brain, kidneys and liver). In this study, we have directly imaged the uptake of hyerpolarized ¹²⁹Xe in the human brain in vivo. Thus demonstrated the feasibility as a safe and non-invasive contrast agent for functional imaging of the brain in diagnosing diseases related to cerebral perfusion such as brain ischemia. In addition, using tracer kinetic analysis we provide quantitative measurement for the intrinsic physiological characteristic of the blood brain barrier.

Yoshiharu Ohno^1,2, Yuji Kishida², Shinichiro Seki², Hisanobu Koyama², Takeshi Yoshikawa^1,2, Daisuke Takenaka³, Masao Yui⁴, Aiming Lu⁵, Mitsue Miyazaki⁵, Katsusuke Kyotani⁶, and Kazuro Sugimura^2
1Advanced Biomedical Imaging Research Center, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan, ²Radiology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan, ³Radiology, Hyogo Cancer Center, Akashi, Japan, ⁴Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation, Otawara, Japan, ⁵Toshiba Medical Research Institute USA, Vernon Hills, IL, United States, ⁶Center for Radiology and Radiation Oncology, Kobe University Hospital, Kobe, Japan

    MRI with ultrashort TE (UTE) has been suggested as useful for morphological assessment of lung as well as CT.  However, no reports have been found to study the capability of thin-section MRI with UTE for pulmonary nodule detection and nodule type assessment as compared with thin-section CTs.  We hypothesized that pulmonary MRI with UTE has a similar potential for nodule detection and nodule type evaluation as compared with thin-section CT.  The purpose of this study was to compare the capability of pulmonary MRI with UTE for nodule detection and nodule type assessment with low- and standard-dose CTs.

Jean A Tkach¹, Ryan A Moore², Nara S Higano^1,3,4, Laura L Walkup^1,3, Mantosh S Rattan⁵, Paul S Kingma⁶, Michael D Taylor², and Jason C Woods^1,3,4
1Imaging Research Center, Department of Radiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States, ²The Heart Institute, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States, ³Center for Pulmonary Imaging Research, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States, ⁴Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, United States, ⁵Department of Radiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States, ⁶Division of Neonatology and Pulmonary Biology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is common in congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) and is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality. Echocardiography and cardiac catheterization are the current standards for evaluating pulmonary hemodynamics in CDH infants, but both have significant limitations and/or risks. Phase contrast (PC) MRI can provide quantitative information about velocity and flow longitudinally, with minimal risk.  We demonstrate the feasibility of applying PC MRI in the neonatal ICU (NICU) to obtain a quantitative assessment of pulmonary blood flow in CDH infants with the long-term goal to establish imaging biomarkers to predict PAH and assess therapeutic response. 

Hongliang Sun¹, Yanyan Xu¹, Kaining Shi², and Wu Wang^1
1Radiology, China-Japan Friendship hospital, Beijing, China, People's Republic of, ²Philips Healthcare China, Beijing, China, People's Republic of

Neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy (CRT) followed by surgery has been established as the standard for locally advanced rectal cancer[1]. The treatment response after CRT is normally evaluated by MRI. However, MRI morphology techniques suffer from limitations in the interpretation of fibrotic scar tissue and inflammation. Diffusion weighted MRI has shown its potentially beneficial role for response evaluation, but with conflicting results[2]. Intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) which enable quantitative parameters that separately reflect tissue diffusivity and tissue microcapillary perfusion[3-4]. However, the pretreatment tumor IVIM MRI parameters predicting treatment response were not clarified.

Zhaoyan Feng¹, Xiangde Min¹, and Liang Wang^1
1Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, People's Republic of

 The new PI-RADS version 2 classification (PI-RADS v2) was proposed together with the European Society of Urogenital Radiology (ESUR) and the American College of Radiology (ACR) in December 2014. In contrast to PI-RADS v1, the v2 regulate how to classify final PI-RADS score. for routine clinical use, test of the validity of v2, including its sensitivity and specificity for prostate cancer (PCa) detection should raise concerns, and literature of them less. So, the purpose of our study was to compare the diagnostic performance of v1 and v2 for the detection of PCa.

Jacob Antunes¹, Scott Steele², Conor Delaney², Joseph Willis³, Justin Brady⁴, Rajmohan Paspulati⁵, Anant Madabhushi¹, and Satish Viswanath^1
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States, ²Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, United States, ³Department of Anatomic Pathology, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, United States, ⁴Department of General Surgery, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, United States, ⁵Department of Radiology, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, United States

Pre-operative planning in colorectal cancer is highly dependent on extent of tumor into the mesorectum, but tumor margin is currently only assessed on excised pathology. Radiomic features may capture subtle microarchitectural changes on a restaging MRI, enabling characterization of tumor extent prior to surgery, even when residual disease may not be visually discernible. We present preliminary results for identifying radiomic features which discriminate invasive from noninvasive tumor on a 3 Tesla restaging T2w MRI in colorectal cancer. In a cohort of 24 patients, multi-scale gradient (Gabor) radiomic features demonstrated high accuracy in segregating patients with invasive colorectal cancer.

Eric Aliotta^1,2, Holden H Wu^1,2, and Daniel B Ennis^1,2
1Radiological Sciences, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States, ²Biomedical Physics IDP, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Bulk motion artifacts in liver DWI can be substantially reduced with first moment nulled diffusion encoding. However, the bipolar diffusion encoding gradient waveforms generally used for this purpose extend TE and limit SNR. We have developed a Convex Optimized Diffusion Encoding (CODE) framework to design time-optimal, motion compensated diffusion encoding gradients that remove sequence dead times and minimize TE. CODE gradients were designed and implemented for liver DWI on a 3.0T clinical scanner, then evaluated in healthy volunteers and patients. Bulk motion artifacts were significantly reduced and  ADC maps were improved compared to conventional monopolar encoding.

Yuxi Pang¹, Dariya Malyarenko¹, Matthew Davenport¹, Hero Hussain¹, and Thomas Chenevert^1
1Department of Radiology, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, ANN ARBOR, MI, United States

This work is to analyze the respiratory waveforms from dynamic liver MR images related to the motion artifacts in arterial phase images induced by the contrast-media administration. The discriminative metrics were defined to quantify the likelihood of the acutely and temporally impaired breath-holding by the subjects who received gadoxetate disodium and gadobenate dimeglumine contrast agents. Our preliminary results show that the indicative metrics derived from recorded respiratory waveforms objectively confirm prior reported observations that gadoxetate disodium has a significantly higher likelihood of inducing acute transient breath-holding difficulties that adversely affect arterial phase image quality.