Virtual Meetings

Contrast-enhanced MR (CE-MR) imaging is often required to improve image quality, enable better lesion detection, improve lesion characterization, and increase diagnostic confidence. Gadolinium-based Contrast Agents (GBCAs) have been used for decades to enhance MR images, and the stability of GBCAs has become a priority in the choice of contrast media, leading to a shift in clinical trends towards the usage of macrocyclic agents.

This meeting provides an opportunity for different vendors to present updates on their products including biodistribution, safety and efficacy. There will be an opportunity for a Q&A session with the speakers at the end of the presentations.

Since Autumn 2023, Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, in collaboration with the Reproducible Research Study Group, has been offering an optional Code Review facility to submitting authors wishing to have their code tested for ease of use, quality of documentation, and ability to achieve its stated objective. This virtual meeting will provide an overview of how the initiative has been received from the community and what was observed after one year of reviews. Furthermore, it will offer tips for an effective code review addressing current and future volunteer code reviewers.

This virtual meeting features a selection of current studies exploring methodological advances and applications of quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and electrical properties tomography (EPT) to study brain function in-vivo. Functional QSM (fQSM) enables the quantification of tissue magnetic susceptibility changes induced by functional activation, offering a window into oxygen metabolism and neural activity, with potential advantages with respect to conventional fMRI including a better spatial specificity in the identification of activation foci. Complementary, functional EPT (fEPT) has been reported to enable mapping electrical conductivity changes in both gray and white matter, allowing visualization of the brain neural activation. The meeting also allows for time to discuss the technical challenges, interpretation of results, and the possible impact of fQSM and fEPT in the field of neuroimaging.

We will cover the identification and investigation process involved in active implant imaging in MRI. This will include terminology around what the manufacturers’ conditions are for a specific implant, any lead or generator co-dependencies, and scanning system limitations. The key safety concerns involve B0, the switching gradient field, the spatial gradient field, and RF energy disposition. The discussion will include how to address conditions safely along with the approval and documentation process involving the appropriate physicians and staff.

In this first Pulmonary MR Study Group virtual workshop, two leading researchers in the area of pulmonary MR will provide a broad update covering the "state of the field" of pulmonary MR. Mina Kim, Ph.D., will present from the perspective of 1H MRI, highlighting advances in ultra-short echo time (UTE) MRI, oxygen-enhanced (OE) MRI, and Phase-Resolved Functional Lung (PREFUL) MRI. Bastiaan Driehuys, Ph.D., will present from the perspective of 129Xe MRI, highlighting new advances in gas polarization, imaging methods, and analysis strategies. These two speakers will provide an up-to-date view of the current state of pulmonary MRI and identify areas that are poised for development.