Electronic Posters : Body (Non-Cancer) Imaging
Click on to view the abstract pdf and click on to view the video presentation.
Hepatobiliary/Pancreas

 

Monday May 9th
Exhibition Hall  14:00 - 16:00 Computer 1
14:00 2930.   Assessment of Hepatic Perfusion with Diffusion Weighted and Dynamic Contrast Enhanced 1H MRI in CCl4 Treated Rat Liver  
Andriy Babsky1, Beena George1, George Sandusky2, and Navin Bansal1
1Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, 2Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

 
Use of diffusion-weighted (DW) and dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) 1H MRI for the assessment of hepatic perfusion and diffusion parameters were evaluated in a CCl4-induced rat liver injury model. CCl4-induced liver injury caused decreases in both fast and slow apparent diffusion coefficient of water measured by DW MRI, as well as a decrease in contrast agent uptake measured by DCE MRI. DW 1H MRI should prove useful in assessment of liver damage in diffuse liver diseases without the need for a contrast agent.

 
14:30 2931.   Quantification of T1 relaxation time of liver and spleen before and after oxygen inhalation in patients with and without liver cirrhosis 
Kyung Ah Kim1,2, Mi-Suk Park2, In Seong Kim Kim3, Myeong-Jin Kim2, and Ki Whang Kim2
1Radiology, Inje University Ilsan-Paik Hospital, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea, Republic of, 2Radiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea, Republic of,3Simens Medical Solution

 
We evaluated the usefulness of T1 mapping as one of methods to access liver cirrhosis.

 
15:00 2932.   Hepatic Fibrosis by Chronic Viral Hepatitis: Segmental Localization of Degree of Fibrosis Using Double Contrast Material-Enhanced MRI 
Jeong-Sik Yu1, Jae Ho Shim2, Jae-Joon Chung2, Joo Hee Kim2, and Ki Whang Kim2
1Radiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Seoul, Seoul, Korea, Republic of, 2Gangnam Severance Hospital

 
Double contrast material-enhanced MRI demonstrated the geographic or intersegmental differences of hepatic fibrosis in the C-viral group distinguished from the B-viral group showing no remarkable variations among the different hepatic segments. The relative lack of fibrosis in the CL and the more advanced fibrosis in the RL causes a right posterior hepatic notch especially in the patients with chronic C-viral hepatitis, whereas expansion of the gallbladder fossa is not closely related to the intersegmental differences in hepatic fibrosis regardless of the sorts of the viruses.

 
15:30 2933.   Effect of Cirrhosis on Portal Venous Flow Reserve 
Hwayoung Kate Lee1, Zhitong Zou2, and Martin Raymond Prince2
1Radiology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, United States, 2Radiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, United States

 
Despite morphologic signs, cirrhosis often goes undiagnosed on imaging until it reaches the point of irreversibility. Accordingly, a physiological indicator might be able to identify changes of cirrhosis even when characteristic morphological features are not present. Using 2D-phase contrast MRA, we test the hypothesis that the portal flow is greater in noncirrhotic patients postprandially compared to cirrhotic livers. We observed that fasting, noncirrhotic and cirrhotic patients had similar mean portal venous flow velocities. However, while noncirrhotic patients had increased mean PV flow postprandially as expected, cirrhotic patients had decreased PV flow postprandially. Decreased PV flow observed in postprandial, cirrhotic patients serves as a useful physiologic indicator of cirrhosis.

 
Tuesday May 10th
  13:30 - 15:30 Computer 1
13:30 2934.   Comparison of Liver Stiffness with MRE and Fibrosis Quantification with Fibro-C Index in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients. 
Sudhakar Kundapur Venkatesh1, Dean Tai2, Aileen Wee3, Shuoyu Xu4, and Hanry Yu5
1Diagnostic Imaging, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore, Singapore, 2Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, Singapore, Singapore, Singapore, 3Pathology, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore, Singapore, 4Singapore-MIT Alliance, Singapore, Singapore, Singapore, 5Physiology, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

 
MRE has been shown to be accurate for diagnosis of liver fibrosis. In this study we compared the liver stiffness secondary to liver fibrosis determined by MRE with raw quantification of the amount of collagen in a biopsy sample by Fibro-C index technique. Study results show MRE derived stiffness of liver correlates well with fibrous content of liver biopsy. The different grades of liver fibrosis were better differentiated with MRE than by raw quantification of collagen, therefore MRE may be suitable alternative for non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis burden in chronic hepatitis B patients and in their follow up.

 
14:00 2935.   Liver Stiffness Assessment by Tagged MRI of Cardiac-induced Liver Motion 
Sohae Chung1, Elodie Breton1, Lorenzo Mannelli1, and Leon Axel1
1Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, United States

 
A pathological hallmark of the progression to cirrhosis is the development of liver fibrosis, so that monitoring the appearance and progression of liver fibrosis can be used to guide therapy. Fibrosis of the liver is known to result in increased mechanical stiffness; this is the basis of current noninvasive approaches to the assessment of liver stiffness with ultrasound or MRI. In this study, we used the pulsations of the heart as an intrinsic motion source to transiently deform the liver and magnetization-tagged MRI to measure the cardiac-induced motion and deformation in the liver for the assessment of liver stiffness.

 
14:30 2936.   MR Elastography: Reproducibility of Measurements of Mean Liver Stiffness 
Russell N. Low1,2, Tarek Hassanein3, and Neeraj Panchal4,5
1Sharp and Children's MRI Center, San Diego, CA, United States, 2San Diego Imaging, San Diego, CA, United States, 3Southern California Liver Centers, 4Sharp and Children's MRI Center, 5San Diego Imaging

 
The reproducibility of measurements of mean liver stiffness was evaluated in 53 patients who underwent serial MR Elastography. The percent difference in mean liver stiffness on the two examinations averaged 8% - 11% with excellent reproducibility that was independent of the degree of liver stiffness. Similar agreement of MRE measurements was found on the two different GE 1.5T scanners used in this study which included a GE HDx and a GE MR 450 scanner.

 
15:00 2937.   Tag MRI of the liver as a new method to differentiate normal vs. cirrhotic livers 
Lorenzo Mannelli1, Orpheus Kolokythas1, Theodore Jay Dubinsky1, Martin Gunn1, CHRISTOPHER A POTTER1, and Jeffrey H Maki1
1Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States

 
This study evaluates the possibility to differentiate in cirrhotic from healthy livers using tagMRI. TagMRI studies tissues strain, and is routinely used in cardiac imaging to evaluate myocardial motion through its strain. In this study we use the heart beating as source of liver deformation to evaluate liver strain. In cirrhotic patients liver stiffness increases and increments in stiffness induce decrements in tissue deformability; these differences can be quantified by strain. Our data demonstrate that our hypothesis is correct.

 
Wednesday May 11th
  13:30 - 15:30 Computer 1
13:30 2938.   In vivo 19 F MRI to detect biliary excretion of 19 F-labeled drugs in mice 
Su Xu1,2, Kunrong Cheng3, Sandeep Khurana3, Diana Johnson4, James Polli4, Da Shi1,2, Steven Roys1,2, Rao Gullapalli1,2, and Jean-Pierre Raufman3
1Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, 2Core for Translational Research in Imaging @ Maryland University of Maryland School, 3Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 4Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy

 
In our quest to use 19F MRI to measure bile acid transport in live animals, it occurred to us that isoflurane, a commonly-used inhalant anesthetic containing 5 fluorides per molecule and metabolized by the liver, provides an excellent test drug. Indeed, mice inhaling 1.5% isoflurane revealed robust 19F signals from the gallbladder, verified by overlying 1H and 19F signals. 19F signal was not detected in mice anesthetized with non-halogenated drugs. In gallbladder bile, isoflurane excretion was confirmed using LC-MS. These proof-of-concept data identify a novel approach to measure in vivo biliary excretion of existing and novel 19F-labeled drugs.

 
14:00 2939.   Fluid Suppression for MRI Screening by Dual Echo Subtraction 
Ananth J Madhuranthakam1, Karen S Lee2, Jean H Brittain3, Ivan Pedrosa2, Neil M Rofsky4, and David C Alsop2
1Global Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare, Boston, MA, United States, 2Radiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States, 3Global Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare, Madison, WI, United States, 4Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States

 
T2 techniques such as STIR provide excellent contrast for tumor screening but bright signal from fluid complicates interpretation. We propose dual echo single-shot RARE based approach to filter out very long T2 fluid while preserving T2 sensitivity for lesions. Following spectrally selective inversion for fat suppression, a long echo train is used to acquire two single-shot images. Subtraction of the longer TE image from the shorter one effectively suppresses fluid. This motion insensitive approach is faster, has higher sensitivity, and less T1 dependent than FLAIR suppression approaches. The feasibility of the technique is demonstrated in normal volunteers and tumor models.

 
14:30 2940.   Parallel Transmission in Liver MRI at 7T: Initial Results 
Xiaoping Wu1, Sebastian Schmitter1, Edwards J. Auerbach1, J. Pfeuffer2, Michael Hamm3, Kamil Ugurbil1, and P-F. Van de Moortele1
1CMRR, Radiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States, 2MR Application Development, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany, 3Siemens Healthcare, Charlestown, MA, United States

 
The feasibility of torso imaging at 7T has been demonstrated in several organs. However, to consider successful clinical applications, fast, robust and practical methods must be developed to address the severe transmit B1 (B1+) inhomogeneity present at such high magnetic field. B1 shimming proves to be a successful approach to address this issue, especially in organs of a limited size such as the prostate. However, obtaining a uniform B1+ field at 7T using B1 shimming over the longest dimension of large organs such as the liver is extremely challenging, if not impossible, and such B1 shim solutions typically come at the cost of very low RF efficiency yielding SAR values beyond acceptable limits. Parallel transmission (pTX) has much larger degrees of freedom to address B1+ inhomogeneity and has been shown to be able to produce spatially homogeneous excitation in the human head. This technique, however, has not yet been demonstrated in body imaging at 7T, where mapping B1+ on multiple channels in the presence of respiratory motion is an additional challenge. Here, we report the first liver images obtained using 3D spoke pTX RF pulses for flip angle homogenization at 7T.

 
15:00 2941.   Ultra high spatio-temporal resolution liver imaging using a new view ordering scheme and a 2-point Dixon acquisition 
Manojkumar Saranathan1, Dan Rettmann2, Anja S Brau3, Brian A Hargreaves1, and Shreyas Vasanawala1
1Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States, 2Global Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare, Rochester, MN, United States, 3Global Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare, Menlo Park, CA, United States

 
Both Dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCEMRI) and MR angiography (MRA) are challenged by the conflicting requirements of spatial and temporal resolution. Various methods have been proposed for high spatio-temporal resolution MR imaging, involving combinations of partial Fourier imaging, under-sampling, view sharing and parallel imaging to effect high spatio-temporal acceleration. We propose DISCO (DIfferential Subsampling with Cartesian Ordering), a pseudo-random k-space segmentation scheme that minimizes sensitivity to eddy currents and motion for dynamic imaging while dispersing artifacts and residual ghosting and demonstrate its use in first pass contrast enhanced liver imaging using a 32 channel torso-phase array coil with high acceleration factors.

 
Thursday May 12th
  13:30 - 15:30 Computer 1
13:30 2942.   Radial k-space sampling for 3D fat-suppressed contrast-enhanced imaging of the liver during free breathing 
Hersh Chandarana1, Andrew B Rosenkrantz1, Ruth P Lim1, Danny Kim1, David I Mossa1, Konstantinos Arhakis1, Berthold Kiefer2, Tobias Kai Block2, and Vivian S Lee1
1Department of Radiology, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, United States, 2MR Application and Workflow Development, Siemens AG Healthcare Sector, Erlangen, Germany

 
T1-weighted fat-saturated three-dimensional volumetric interpolated examination (VIBE) is the conventional sequence used for post-contrast liver MR examination. In our patient population, subjects frequently struggle to breath-hold for more than 10 seconds, resulting in decreased image quality. Purpose of our study was to compare image quality of free breathing radially sampled k-space VIBE to conventional breathhold VIBE (BH VIBE) and free-breathing (FB) conventional VIBE with multiple averages. Our results demonstrate the utility of a 3D radial VIBE technique for post-contrast liver MRI performed during free-breathing which is comparable in image quality to BH VIBE and significantly better than conventional FB VIBE.

 
14:00 2943.   Measurement of Field Inhomogeneity and Susceptibility Effects for Liver Iron Quantification in Patients with Iron Overload 
Brian A Taylor1, Ralf B Loeffler1, Ruitian Song1, R Jason Stafford2, Beth McCarville1, Jane S Hankins3, and Claudia M Hillenbrand1
1Radiological Sciences, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, United States, 2Imaging Physics, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States, 3Hematology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, United States

 
An autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model was used to calculate field inhomogeneities in T2* imaging of the liver in patients with iron overload. Comparisons were made between ARMA T2* measurements and T2* from monoexponential fits calibrated to liver iron content measurements via biopsy.

 
14:30 2944.   The secretory flow of pancreatic juice in the main pancreatic duct: Visualization by means of MRCP with spatially selective inversion recovery pulse 
teruyuki torigoe1, Katsuyoshi Ito1, Tsutomu Tamada1, Akihiko Kanki1, and Kouji Yoshida1
1KAWASAKI MEDICAL SCHOOL, Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan

 
We assessed the physiological flow of pancreatic juice non-invasively by means of non-pharmacological MRCP with spatially selective inversion recovery pulse, and evaluated the feasibility of this technique for the assessment of pancreatic exocrine functions. The physiological flow of the pancreatic juice can be visualized non-invasively by means of non-pharmacological MRCP with spatially selective inversion recovery pulse. This technique may have the potential to evaluate the pancreatic exocrine functions in patients with pancreatitis.

 
15:00 2945.   Automated liver parenchyma and vessel segmentation in radial Gradient and Spin-Echo (GRASE) datasets for characterization of diffuse liver disease 
Ali Bilgin1,2, Rajagopalan Sundaresan3, Christian G Graff4, Chuan Huang5, Tomoe Barr1, and Maria I Altbach6
1Biomedical Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States, 2Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States, 3Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Arizona, 4Division of Imaging and Applied Mathematics, Food and Drug Administration, 5Mathematics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States, 6Radiology, University of Arizona

 
Diagnosing diffuse liver disease using parametric imaging requires use of the parameter values for as much of the liver parenchyma as possible due to the diffuse nature of the disease. An automated liver parenchyma and vessel segmentation methodology is proposed for datasets obtained using radial Gradient and Spin-Echo (GRASE). The proposed segmentation strategy is evaluated using in vivo data and an abdominal phantom. The results illustrate that the proposed segmentation is accurate and improves estimation of T2 value of liver parenchyma which can be used to characterize diffuse liver disease.
Electronic Posters : Body (Non-Cancer) Imaging
Click on to view the abstract pdf and click on to view the video presentation.
Kidney: Functional

 
Monday May 9th
Exhibition Hall  14:00 - 16:00 Computer 2
14:00 2946.   In Vivo Sodium MR Imaging of Rabbit Kidney using Dual-tuned RF Coil at 3T 
Chan Hong Moon1, Alessandro Furlan1, Jung-Hwan Kim1, Lloydine Jacobs2,3, Tiejun Zhao4, and Kyongtae Ty Bae1
1Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States, 2Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, United States, 3Ferguson Laboratory for Orthopaedic and Spine Research, 4MR Research Support, Siemens Healthcare, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

 
We achieved in-vivo high-resolution sodium MR imaging and measured sodium concentrations of rabbit kidneys at 3T human scanner using a high-sensitive dual-tuned RF coil and ultra-short echo time spiral sequence. Non-invasive assessment of alteration of corticomedullary sodium gradient may serve as an early indicator of renal pathology.

 
14:30 2947.   Sodium MR imaging of human kidney using a dual-tuned (23Na/1H) body RF coil at 3T: quantitative assessment of sodium concentration and corticomedullary gradient in healthy subjects 
Alessandro Furlan1, Chan-Hong Moon1, Jung-Hwan Kim1, Xiang He1, Bumwoo Park1, Tiejun Zaho2, and Kyongtae Ty Bae1
1Radiology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, United States, 2MR Research Support, Siemens Healthcare, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

 
We performed 23Na/1H MR imaging of normal human kidneys in vivo using a newly developed dual-tuned kidney coil at 3T and quantified renal sodium concentration and corticomedullary gradient. Non-invasive assessment of alteration in corticomedullary sodium gradient may serve as an early indicator of renal pathology.

 
15:00 2948.   Evaluation of therapeutic effect on renal fibrosis by diffusion-weighted imaging 
Osamu Togao1, Shigehiro Doi2, Makoto Kuro-o2, and Masaya Takahashi1
1Advanced Imaging Research Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States, 2Departement of Pathology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States

 
In an experimental murine model of unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO), we previously demonstrated that diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) can depict and enable monitoring of abnormal changes in the progression of renal fibrosis. A progressive decrease in ADC was observed in the obstructed kidneys only, which correlated with an increase in cell density in the interstitial space, expression levels of -smooth muscle actin (SMA), a marker for myofibroblasts, collagen deposition, and tubular atrophy on histologic sections. In the present study, we investigated whether DWI can be used for evaluation of the therapeutic response on the progression of the renal fibrosis.

 
15:30 2949.   MR Elastography in Renal Transplant Patients: A Feasibility Study 
Christine U. Lee1, Kevin J. Glaser1, James F. Glockner1, Meng Yin1, Jun Chen1, and Richard L. Ehman1
1Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States

 
MR elastography (MRE) of renal transplants was performed on eleven patients scheduled for routine core-needle biopsies of their allografts. Feasibility of performing MRE on renal allografts is demonstrated and preliminary thoughts on correlation of MRE-derived stiffness values with histopathology is made.

 
Tuesday May 10th
  13:30 - 15:30 Computer 2
13:30 2950.   Renal cortico-medullary differentiation in liver cirrhotic patients: Is the pathology cortical or medullary or both? 
Umer Abdur Rahim Khan1, Pierre Hugues Vivier1, Pippa Storey1, Akira Yamamoto1, Henry Rusinek1, Lei Zhang1, Kristopher Tantillo1, Ruth Lim1, James Babb1, John Devon2, David Stoffel1, Lewis Teperman2, Judith Benstein3, Samuel Sigal3, Edward Skolnik3, and Vivian S Lee1
1Radiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, United States, 2Surgery, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, United States, 3Internal Medicine, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, United States

 
Liver cirrhosis patients are frequently affected by renal compromise with the progression of the disease. In this patient population, and as reported for other pathologies previously, visual decrease in cortico-medullary differentiation (CMD) is observed with increasing renal insufficiency by T1-weighted MRI. We explored differences in T1 values for renal medulla and cortex and their role in producing decreased visual differentiation within the failing kidney. Our results suggest decreasing medullary T1 values to be responsible for loss of CMD with the progression of renal failure in cirrhotic patients.

 
14:00 2951.   Interleaved T1- and T2*-mapping for Dynamic Abdominal Tissue Oxygenation Applications 
Yao Ding1, Qing Yuan2, Rami R Hallac1, Ralph P Mason2, Roderick W McColl2, Robert D Sims2, and Paul T Weatherall2
1Radiological sciences graduate program, UT southwestern medical center at dallas, Dallas, TX, United States, 2Radiology, UT southwestern medical center at dallas, Dallas, TX, United States

 
MR relaxation time mapping has been used for the assessment of oxygenation in various fields. A free breathing respiratory-triggered interleaved T1 and T2* mapping sequence was developed and applied to acquire quantitative relaxation time maps of abdominal organs in a dynamic scan without the need for image registration. Compared to traditional tissue oxygenation methods which only acquire one parameter in a dynamic study, this technique is a more efficient method which enables simultaneous monitoring of both tissue and blood dynamic oxygenation processes. While abdominal organs are used here as an example, this method can be more easily performed on oncology patients, many of whom have difficulty cooperating for long exams.

 
14:30 2952.   Noninvasive Evaluation of Renal Oxygen Extraction Fraction via Reduced-FOV Asymmetric Spin Echo Approach 
Zhikui Xiao1, Ajit Shankaranarayan2, Emine Ulku Saritas3, Shen Hao1, and Cao Guang1
1Global Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare, Beijing, Beijing, China, People's Republic of, 2Global Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare, Menlo Park, CA, United States, 3Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States

 
In this study, a 2D-RF ASE EPI sequence with flow dephasing gradient was employed to acquire images that have different susceptibility weighting. Subsequently, based on the theoretical model proposed by Yablonskiy and Haacke [4] for characterizing signal changes in the presence of deoxyhemoglobin, R2and Oxygen Extraction Fraction (OEF) were estimated from the acquired images. We show that this sequence can dynamically monitor renal function and can be used to study and treat renal disease.

 
15:00 2953.   Quantitative T2* MRI for Kidneys Iron Overload Assessment in a large cohort of thalassemia major patients. 
Antonella Meloni1, Daniele De Marchi1, Vincenzo Positano1, Maria Chiara Dell'Amico1, Brunella Favilli1, Petra Keilberg1, Chiara Tudisca2, Gianluca Valeri3, Massimiliano Missere4, Angelo Zuccarelli5, Massimo Lombardi1, and Alessia Pepe1
1Fondazione G.Monasterio CNR-Regione Toscana and Institute of Clinical Physiology, Pisa, Italy, 2Policlinico Paolo Giaccone, Palermo, Italy, 3Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti "Umberto I-Lancisi-Salesi", Ancona, Italy, 4Universit Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Campobasso, Italy, 5Ospedale civile, Olbia, Italy

 
Multiecho T2* MRI allows organ-specific iron overload assessment. There very few report concerning the kidneys. We studied 119 Talassemia Major patients. Systemic T2* differences between left and right kidneys were found, with significant lower values in the right one. Mean T2* value over both kidneys increased with age and did not show a significant difference amongst men ad women. Iron deposition in the kidneys was not very common in TM (36% of the patient population), but it was correlated with iron deposition in other organs (liver and heart)

 
Wednesday May 11th
  13:30 - 15:30 Computer 2
13:30 2954.   Reproducibility of R2* and R2 measurements in human kidneys 
Jeff Lei Zhang1, Pippa Storey1, Henry Rusinek1, Hersh Chandarana1, Mervin Wauchope1, Rajesh Bhatta1, David Stoffel1, Eric E Sigmund1, Qun Chen1, and Vivian S Lee1
1Department of Radiology, New York University, New York, NY, United States

 
One limiting factor in renal BOLD MRI for diuretic studies is the low reproducibility of relaxation rates. We examined the day-to-day reproducibility of R2*, R2, and R2' estimates in human renal cortex and medulla obtained in healthy volunteers. R2 and R2* measurement are highly reproducible, but the reproducibility of their difference, R2', was not as good. Improved SNR may be necessary to detect changes in R2' with interventions such as diuretics, possibly using more averages with co-registration.

 
14:00 2955.   Quantitative BOLD response of the renal medulla to hyperoxic challenge at 1.5T and 3.0T 
Olivio Donati1, Daniel Nanz1, Andreas Serra2, and Andreas Boss1
1Radiology, University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, 2Nephrology, University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

 
Renal oxygenation may be assessed by Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent imaging (BOLD). The renal medulla is an area of constant hypoxia, and, therefore, prone to hypoxic injury. We present a technique of BOLD MRI, which measures changes of renal medullary oxygenation caused by oxygen or carbogen breathing. The induced change in tissue T2* relaxation is a measure of the renal medullary hypoxia. The proposed method may be interesting for further clinical studies in patients with kidney diseases.

 
14:30 2956.   Evaluation of Intra-Renal Oxygenation by BOLD MRI During Water Diuresis: Race Differences 
Lu-Ping Li1, Federico Mordini1, Sarah Halter1, Eugene Dunkle1, JoAnn Carbray1, Ewa Gliwa1, Hongyan Du2, and Pottumarthi V Prasad1
1Radiology / Center for Advanced Imaging, Northshore University Healthsystem, Evanston, IL, United States, 2Center for Clinical Research Informatics (CCRI), Research Institute, Northshore University Healthsystem, Evanston, IL, United States

 
Prevalence of hypertension is significantly higher in the African American (AA) population compared to Caucasian (CC). A role for endothelial dysfunction has been shown based on Brachial artery ultrasonography (BAUS). Since response to water-loading on renal medullary oxygenation evaluated by BOLD MRI is also dependent on endogenous mechanisms such as prostaglandins and nitric oxide, we performed a preliminary study to evaluate these differences in a small number of healthy AA and CC. BAUS data was also obtained. Both BAUS and BOLD MRI data show reduced responses in AA, although our sample size is small to reach statistical significance.

 
15:00 2957.   Preliminary Evaluation of Renal BOLD MRI for Monitoring Progression in CKD Patients 
Muhammad E Haque1, Ujala Bokhary1, Shonny Fettman2, Stuart Sprague2, and Pottumarthi Prasad1
1Radiology, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, IL, United States, 2Nephrology, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, IL, United States

 
Conventional blood markers are not sufficient to assess the severity of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and the risk for progression. It is highly desirable to develop new non-invasive markers that could reliably monitor the progression of disease over time. Renal fibrosis is considered as a hallmark of CKD and hypoxia is known to trigger fibrogenesis. We performed a preliminary cross-sectional study to compare BOLD MRI measurements in a group of CKD patients against healthy controls. We have observed a trend of increased hypoxia in CKD and a reduced response to furosemide in the medulla.

 
Thursday May 12th
  13:30 - 15:30 Computer 2
13:30 2958.   DCE MR Renography Measurement of Renal Function in Patients Undergoing Partial Nephrectomy 
Stella K Kang1, William C Huang2, Jeff L Zhang1, Michael Stifelman2, Mary Bruno1, Konstantinos Arhakis1, Edgar F Suan1, Vivian S Lee1, and Hersh Chandarana1
1Radiology, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, New York, United States, 2Urology, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, New York, United States

 
Partial nephrectomy is commonly performed for treatment of localized renal tumors. Surgical approaches vary in the type and duration of ischemic insult. MR-renography may be used to monitor the impact of surgical approaches on the operated kidney and to assess the compensatory changes in the contralateral kidney while adding 5 minutes acquisition time and minimal gadolinium contrast. Our preliminary study demonstrated decrease in operated kidney function in the immediate post-operative period, which was greatest in patients with warm ischemia time ≥ 40 minutes and lowest in patients with cold ischemia. Few patients demonstrated persistent decline in renal function at follow-up.

 
14:00 2959.   Assessment of Renal Function by ASL in Wilms Tumor Survivors 
Ruitian Song1, Ralf B. Loeffler1, Mary Beth McCarville1, Sheri L. Spunt2, and Claudia Maria Hillenbrand1
1Radiological Sciences, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, United States, 2Oncology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, United States

 
Renal blood flow (RBF) rates and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) were measured using arterial spin labeling (ASL) and creatinine clearance (CrCl) tests, respectively, in 23 long-term survivors of unilatral Wilms tumor. Correlations between GFR and RBF were examined in radiotherapy, non-radiotherapy groups. r= 0.78 was found in all the patients. The correlation in the non-radiotherapy group (r=0.89) was better than that in the radiotherapy group (r=0.68). The radiation damage may enhance the probability for unstable renal function, which may cause the measured GFR values be less reliable and thus the weaker correlation. ASL may be a better indicator for renal function.

 
14:30 2960.   Evaluation of repeatability of renal ASL MRI in healthy volunteers 
Marica Cutajar1, David L Thomas2, Christopher A Clark3, Xavier Golay4, and Isky Gordon5
1Imaging and Biophysics, UCL Institute of Child Health, London, London, United Kingdom, 2Medical Physics and Bioengineering, UCL Neuroscience, London, United Kingdom,3Imaging and Biophysics, UCL Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom, 4UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom, 5Imaging and Biophysics, UCL Institute of Child Health, London

 
Arterial Spin Labelling (ASL) can be used to measure renal perfusion without the need to inject contrast agents. ASL in the kidneys is still in its infancy and therefore ensuring the technique is repeatable and feasible is crucial. Non-invasive reliable measurements of renal perfusion could prove invaluable in early diagnosis and management of renal diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the repeatability and robustness of this technique in healthy kidneys to justify its use in the clinical environment.

 
15:00 2961.   Corticomedullary differentiation of the kidney: Evaluation with non-contrast-enhanced steady-state free precession (SSFP) MR imaging with time-spatial labeling inversion pulse (Time-SLIP) 
Akihiko Kanki1, Tsutomu Tamada1, Yasufumi Noda1, Atsushi Higaki1, Satoko Okamoto1, and Katsuyoshi Ito1
1Radiology, Kawasaki Medical School, Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan

 
This study was carried out to assess the value of non-contrast-enhanced steady-state free precession (SSFP) MR imaging with time-spatial labeling inversion pulse (Time-SLIP) in the visualization of corticomedullary differentiation of the normal kidney. Our study showed that SSFP MR imaging with Time-SLIP can improve the visibility of renal corticomedullary differentiation without using contrast agents, and may have a potential to help evaluate the renal function in patients with diminished renal corticomedullary differentiation.
Electronic Posters : Body (Non-Cancer) Imaging
Click on to view the abstract pdf and click on to view the video presentation.
Fetal & Female Pelvis

 
Monday May 9th
Exhibition Hall  14:00 - 16:00 Computer 3
14:00 2962.   MR manifestations of ovarian adenofibromas and cystadenofibromas: Conventional MR imaging and high-b value diffusion-weighted MR imaging with pathologic correlatopn 
Kenji Matsuzaki1, Mayumi Takeuchi1, and Masafumi Harada1
1Department of Radiology, University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan

 
We evaluated MR manifestations of 10 ovarian adenofibromas and cystadenofibromas (8 benign and 2 borderline lesions) with pathologic correlation. Mucinous cystadenofibromas may tend to be multilocular cystic masses with solid portion showing gblack sponge-likeh appearance (very low intense solid components containing hyperintense tiny cysts on T2-weighted images), whereas serous cystadenofibromas may tend to be unilocular cystic masses with small fibrous mural nodules or masses containing aggregated small cysts with thickened fibrous wall. Fibrous components showed low intensity on diffusion-weighted imaging due to T2 blackout, and suggestive for their benignity.

 
14:30 2963.   Clinical significance of lipid peak in in-vivo 1H-MR spectroscopy of ovarian thecomas/fibrothecomas 
Mayumi Takeuchi1, Kenji Matsuzaki1, and Masafumi Harada1
1Department of Radiology, University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan

 
We evaluated 7 ovarian thecomas/fibrothecomas, 6 other benign ovarian solid tumors (2 fibromas, 3 adenofibromas and 1 fibromatosis), and 7 subserosal leiomyomas by 1H-MR spectroscopy at 3T. All lesions showed totally or partially low signal intensity on T2-weighted images. High lipid peaks were observed in all 7 thecomas/fibrothecomas reflecting intracellular lipids, whereas low lipid peaks were observed in only one fibroma of 6 ovarian tumors. None of all 7 leiomyomas showed lipid peak. The presence of high lipid peak may be specific for thecomas/fibrothecomas and useful for the differential diagnosis of gynecologic tumors exhibiting low signal intensity on T2-weighted images.

 
15:00 2964.   Clinical significance of creatine peak in in-vivo 1H-MR spectroscopy of gynecologic tumors 
Mayumi Takeuchi1, Kenji Matsuzaki1, and Masafumi Harada1
1Department of Radiology, University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan

 
We evaluated 17 uterine leiomyomas and 61 ovarian tumors by 1H-MR spectroscopy at 3T. Creatine peak was observed in all 17 leiomyomas (100%), and 16 of 61 ovarian tumors (26%). The creatine concentration in leiomyomas (9.17 +/- 6.19 mM) was significantly higher than that in ovarian tumors (3.92 +/- 2.66 mM) (p<0.01). Using a cut off value of 6 mM for leiomyomas had a sensitivity of 65%, specificity of 81%, PPV of 79%, and NPV of 68%.

 
15:30 2965.   Evaluation of the effectiveness of slice selective gradient reversal technique in diffusion weighted imaging of the female pelvis at 3T MR imaging 
Akio Tsukabe1, Izumi Imaoka1, Tetsurou Araki1, Kazuhiko Nishimatsu1, Masahiro Okada1, Seishi Kumano1, Kazunari Ishii1, Ryuuishirou Ashikaga1, Marc Van Cauteren2, and Takamichi Murakami1
1Radiology, Kinki University School of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Osaka, Japan, 2Philips Healthcare, Asia Pacific

 
Purpose Diffusion weighted images (DWI) require robust fat suppression. Slice selective gradient reversal (SSGR) is one of the fat suppression techniques. SSGR gives little benefit at 1.5T, however, it would be effective at higher magnetic field strength. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to know whether SSGR influences the ADC values and imaging quality of 3T DWI of the female pelvis. Materials and methods This retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board, and informed consent was waived. Thirty-one women (mean age, 50.4 years; range, 20-85 years) clinically suspected having gynecological diseases were included in the study. Axial and sagittal T1-, T2-weighted images, and axial single shot EPI-DWI (b=1000, and 0) were obtained with a 3T unit (Achieva, Philps Healthcare) using a cardiac 32ch coil. The parameters of DWI were: TR/TE=5546/55msec, FOV 350mm, matrix 256256, 5mm slice thickness with no slice gap, and SENSE reduction factor 3. For fat suppression technique, two imaging sets of DWI were obtained; (1) SPAIR (spectral attenuated with inversion recovery) only, which is included in our routine protocol, and (2) both SSGR and SPAIR. For quantitative assessment, ADC value was calculated using oval region of interest (ROI) placed on uterine structures (endometrium and myometrium), iliac bone marrow, internal obturator muscle, gluteus maximus muscle, and pelvic tumors, if any. For qualitative assessment, two radiologists independently scored the strength of artifacts (ghosting and chemical shift artifact (CSA)) as 1:strong, 2:moderate, and 3:weak. They also scored the conspicuity of right and left ovary, and uterine layers of corpus and cervix as : 1.poor, 2.fair, and 3.good. ADC values and qualitative scores were statistically analyzed by using the paired t test and Wilcoxon signed rank test, respectively. Results SPAIR+SSGR images provided significantly lower ADC values than SPAIR only images in internal obturator muscle (1.42 vs. 1.51, p < .0001) gluteus maximus muscle (1.54 vs. 1.63, p < .0001), and pelvic tumors including leiomyoma, adenomyosis, and cervical carcinoma (1.15 vs. 1.17, p = .033). There was statistically no significant difference in ADC of endometrium and myometrium. Significant differences of qualitative scores were seen in the assessment of artifacts. SPAIR+SSGR images apparently reduced ghosting (2.8 vs. 1.6, p < .0001), however, increased CSA (1.9 vs 2.3; p < .0001). There was statistically no significant difference in qualitative scores of the conspicuity of ovaries and uterine structures. Conclusion SSGR influenced the ADC values of pelvic muscles, and tumors including benign and malignant. Therefore, we should notice the reproducibility of ADC is not always promising. SSGR is a robust fat suppression technique that could improve ghosting, and we consider CSA becomes eye-catching under that condition.

 
Tuesday May 10th
  13:30 - 15:30 Computer 3
13:30 2966.   Measuring Coherent Blood Flow in the Placenta, Basal Plate and Chorionic Plate 
Devasuda Anblagan1, Ruta Deshpande2, Carolyn Costigan1, Nia W Jones2, George Bugg2, Peter Mansell2, Nick Raine Fenning3, Lopa Leach4, and Penny A Gowland1
1Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom, 2Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, 3School of Clinical Sciences, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, 4School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom

 
Various methods exist for measuring perfusion and moving blood fraction in the placenta but there are few reports of coherent flow in the placenta. This is the first report of flow velocity measurements in the human placenta using MRI. High flow can be identified in the myometrium, basal plate and chorionic plate. There are also areas of high flow in the placenta.

 
14:00 2967.   Oxygen-Enhanced MRI in the human placenta: preliminary results 
Isaac Huen1,2, David M Morris1,2, Caroline Wright3, Colin P Sibley3, Edward Johnstone3, and Josephine H Naish1,2
1Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, School of Cancer and Imaging Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, 2The University of Manchester Biomedical Imaging Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, 3Maternal & Fetal Health Research Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

 
Preeclampsia and Fetal Growth Restriction are complications of pregnancy, which cause considerable fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide. The oxygen environment of the placenta may be a cause. Existing techniques to investigate placental oxygenation are invasive and cannot be used to monitor pregnancy. A non-invasive technique, Oxygen-Enhanced MRI (OE-MRI), quantifies changes in partial pressure of dissolved oxygen. We successfully implement OE-MRI in the placenta for the first time, obtaining placental oxygenation data during normal pregnancy. This has the potential to investigate oxygen transport in placental complications and improve the understanding of their aetiology.

 
14:30 2968.   Relaxation Times as Biomarkers of Placental Tissue Morphology in Fetal Growth Restriction (FGR). 
Caroline Wright1, David M Morris2,3, Philip N Baker1,4, Ian P Crocker1, Penny A Gowland5, Geoff Parker2,3, and Colin P Sibley1
1Maternal & Fetal Health Research Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, 2Imaging Science and Biomedical Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, 3Biomedical Imaging Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, 4Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, Univerity of Alberta, Alberta, Canada, 5Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Imaging Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom

 
Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is a serious complication of pregnancy associated with morphological changes within the placental tissue. MRI may be useful in non-invasive placental assessment by analysis of relaxation times, T1 and T2. We investigated placental relaxation times in utero at 1.5 T and the relationship with morphology in 30 normal and 10 FGR pregnancies. A significant correlation was seen between relaxation times and gestational age and between T2 and the placental fibrin content. 4 of 10 T2 values for FGR pregnancies lay below the 95th confidence band; interestingly these pregnancies had the most severe forms of FGR.

 
15:00 2969.   Investigation of multichannel phased array configurations for fetal MR imaging at 1.5T 
Ye Li1, Yong Pang1, Daniel Vigneron1,2, Orit Glenn1, Duan Xu1, and Xiaoliang Zhang1,2
1Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Univerisity of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States, 2UCSF/UC Berkeley Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering, San Francisco, California, United States

 
In this work, we aim to find a better solution to fetal imaging. We studied a commercial available 8-channel torso array that is routinely used in clinical fetal imaging, and a proposed flexible 32-channel array. Our results show that, with the increased number of elements and the flexible design (leading to improved filling factor), the 32-channel fetal array demonstrates significant gains in SNR and B1 homogeneity in the whole uterus region, which ensures the performance of the fetal brain imaging regardless of the location of the fetal head in the uterus.

 
Wednesday May 11th
  13:30 - 15:30 Computer 3
13:30 2970.   In utero fetal electrocardiogram gating: technical feasibility 
Martyn NJ Paley1, and Paul Griffiths1
1Human Metabolism, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom

 
A fetal ECG monitoring system has been modified to provide gating pulses for an MR system and has been tested for safety prior to in vivo studies in pregnant women.

 
14:00 2971.   MRI Triggering by a Doppler Ultrasound at 1.5 T for Future Fetal Cardiac Function Investigation 
Jin Yamamura1, Klaus Valett2, Roland Fischer3,4, Gerhard Adam1, and Ulrike Wedegaertner1
1Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany, 2Positronic Systemtechnik GmbH, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany, 3University Medical Center, Germany, 43. Childrens Hospital & Research Center Oakland, Oakland, California, United States

 
This feasibility study is based on performing cardiac MR imaging of the fetal heart in utero. The Doppler ultrasound probe of a standard cardiotocograph (CTG) was re-designed as a triggering device to be MRI compatible. The obtained images were compared with images from pulse-wave (PW) triggering of the fetal heart.The newly developed MR compatible cardiotocograph with its ultrasound transducer allowed a sufficient cardiac triggering of the fetal heart without artifacts during the whole study. The so obtained cardiac MR images were comparable and as sufficient as pulse wave triggered MR images. This is new device should be applicable on the human fetus as well.

 
14:30 2972.   The Effect of Maternal Diabetes on Fetal Adiposity 
Devasuda Anblagan1, Ruta Deshpande2, Alain Pitiot3, Carolyn Costigan1, Nia W Jones2, George Bugg2, Peter Mansell2, Nick Raine Fenning4, Lopa Leach5, and Penny A Gowland1
1Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom, 2Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, 3School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, 4School of Clinical Sciences, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, 5School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom

 
Macrosomia (birth weight > 90th percentile) is a common complication associated with diabetic pregnancies, and babies of mothers with established diabetes are at increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. The ability to measure fetal fat would be an invaluable tool in predicting adverse neonatal outcomes and managing diabetic pregnancies. We have considered two approaches to study the fetal fat composition using 1.5 T MRI: measuring fetal fat across the abdomen and measuring fetal fat across the whole body. We found that fetal fat volume is increased in the fetuses of diabetic mothers.

 
15:00 2973.   Perfusion of multiple embryos in mouse pregnancy - visualization and characterization using ASL MRI 
Reut Avni1, Tal Raz1, Joel Garbow2, and Michal Neeman1
1Biological Regulation, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, 2Department of Radiology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States

 
The aim of this study is to develop a non-invasive MRI tool to characterize the pattern of blood flow in the (crowded) uterine horns in mice. Blood flow along the uterine horns was measured using Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) MRI. This study demonstrates that ASL methodology is able to measure the entire blood input to both the placenta and the embryo, and is sensitive to the embryo location along the uterine horn, thus enabling the non-invasive visualization of the vascular remodeling process that exists during pregnancy in a mouse uterus.

 
Thursday May 12th
  13:30 - 15:30 Computer 3
13:30 2974.   Uterine appearance and uterine peristalsis during lactation on MR imaging 
Sayaka Daido1, Asako Nakai1, Aki Kido1, Koji Fujimoto1, Hiroshi Kusahara2, and Kaori Togashi1
1Kyoto University, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan, 2Tosiba Medical Systems Corporation

 
Physiological change of the uterus is known during normal menstrual cycles on MRI. ). Purpose of this study was to evaluate the uterus on FSE T2 weighted images and uterine peristalsis characteristics on cine MR imaging during lactation, and compare with those of nulliparous women.

 
14:00 2975.   Reproducibility of apparent diffusion coefficients in the normal uterus during the menstrual cycle at 3T MR imaging 
Akio Tsukabe1, Izumi Imaoka1, Tetsurou Araki1, Kazuhiko Nishimatsu1, Masahiro Okada1, Seishi Kumano1, Kazunari Ishii1, Ryuuishirou Ashikaga1, Marc Van Cauteren2, and Takamichi Murakami1
1Radiology, Kinki University School of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Osaka, Japan, 2Philips Healthcare, Asia Pacific

 
Purpose Change in apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) in the normal uterus during a menstrual cycle among reproductive women was reported at 1.5T. In this study, we measured the ADCs of the uterine zonal structures during two menstrual cycles to investigate the reproducibility among intra- and inter-individual variation during the menstrual cycle. Materials and Methods The study protocol was approved by our institutionfs ethics committee and written informed consent was obtained from participants. Five healthy female volunteers of reproductive age (age range, 24-47 years; mean, 38.4 years) participated in the study. MR scans were performed once a week for sequential two menstrual cycles. MR images were obtained with a 3T unit (Achieva, Philps Healthcare) using a cardiac 32ch coil. Single shot EPI-diffusion weighted images (b=1000, and 0) with SPAIR and SSGR (slice selective gradient reversal) for fat suppression, and ADC values were calculated. The parameters were: TR/TE=5546/55msec, FOV 350mm, matrix 256~256, 5mm slice thickness with no slice gap, and SENSE reduction factor 3. Axial images were obtained and an oval region of interest (ROI) was placed on each uterine structure (endometrium, myometrium, and junctional zone) and internal obturator muscle. Results Both intra- and inter-individual variation of ADCs was larger in the endometrium than in the other structures. ADC values in endometrium tended to increase from proliferative phase to early secretory phase in all five women, and inter-individual difference was minimum at early secretory phase. Similar cyclic changes could be seen between two menstrual cycles intra-individually. Conclusion We observed changes in ADC values in the normal uterus during menstrual cycle at 3T. The intra-individual reproducibility was seen during menstrual cycle. Though inter-individual ADC values were varied, we suggest that the early secretory phase is suitable for the assessment of ADC, especially in endometrium.

 
14:30 2976.   Rudimentary Uteri, the ovaries and vaginal length in MRKH Syndrome 
Margaret Anne Hall-Craggs1, Alexander paul Kirkham1, Sophie Pattison1, and Sarah Creighton2
1Radiology, University College Hospital, London, United Kingdom, 2Department of Gynaecology, University College Hospital, London, United Kingdom

 
Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuester-Hauser syndrome is a female genital tract malformation due to interrupted embryonic development of the Mullerian ducts. The incidence and differentiation of rudimentary uteri, incidence of ectopic ovaries and vaginal length have been assessed on MRI in 40 MRKH patients referred from a DSD clinic. Rudimentary uteri are common and differentiation is variable. Rarely the endometrial lining can function. Ovaries are frequently ectopic. Vaginal length varies from a dimple to 3 cm in most. Vaginal measurement obviates the need for clinical vaginal assessment in sexually inactive patients and can be used for planning vaginal dilation therapy.

 
15:00 2977.   7 Tesla MRI of the Female Pelvis 
Oliver Kraff1,2, Lale Umutlu1,2, Sonja Kinner2, Stefan Maderwald1,2, Stephan Orzada1,2, Andreas K Bitz1,2, Michael Forsting2, Mark E Ladd1,2, and Thomas C Lauenstein2
1Erwin L. Hahn Institute for MRI, University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany, 2Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany

 
7 Tesla MR imaging of the female pelvis in humans was investigated using a custom-built eight-channel RF transmit/receive body coil and RF shimming. An examination protocol with a strong clinical focus was optimized and implemented. Six healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. Images were analyzed qualitatively by two senior radiologists. Using subject-specific RF shimming, B1 inhomogeneities could be effectively reduced with only minor effects on the SAR limits. Not only gradient echo but also typical clinical and SAR-intensive sequences such as TSE performed quite well.