Virtual Meetings

The first Hyperpolarization Study Group virtual meeting for this year will feature presentations on both hyperpolarized liquid and gas MRI. Kevin Brindle, Ph.D., a pioneer in the field of hyperpolarized metabolic imaging, will first give a retrospective presentation covering his lab’s research using metabolic imaging to differentiate tumor subtypes and response to treatment. Yuhei Takado, M.D,. Ph.D., will present his lab’s research using hyperpolarized 13C to better understand the contribution of astrocyte metabolism in the brain of awake mice. Finally, Afia Shammi, Ph.D., will present her lab’s work with hyperpolarized gas MRI and the role it can play in evaluating asthma treatment response.

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.

The goal of this webinar is to familiarize the audience with computational approaches for optimizing MR hardware while balancing all relevant constraints and parameters. Each talk will be a how-to guide walking the audience through the steps for designing a key system components. The emphasis will be on open-source optimization and hardware design tools that audience members can download and use in their own projects. The talks will cover three critical "B0" system components: magnets, gradient coils, and multi-coil shim arrays. For each category, the speaker will walk the audience through the design process for an example case.

During the last decade, it has become clear that brain clearance is strongly modulated by sleep. With all the many physiological contrasts available with MRI, it is of course the modality of choice to monitor brain clearance processes. To confirm sleep and to further allow identification of different sleep stages, the use of concomitant EEG is often deemed essential. This complicates the setup of an already challenging experiment considerably, limiting the number of studies performed. In this virtual meeting, we will first hear about sleep, sleep stages, and what EEG can tell us about sleep. After this, we will have three short, 5-minute pitches of researchers who performed sleep studies inside the scanner sharing their experiences, whether they relied on EEG measurements, what degree of complication they experienced with this setup, and whether they see easier alternatives for sleep monitoring. Subsequently, we will discuss in a roundtable session whether we as a study group should write a White Paper on how to perform MRI sleep studies.

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. Geoff Parker, Ph.D., will present from the perspective of 1H MRI, highlighting advances oxygen-enhanced (OE) MRI and providing an overview of other 1H methods including UTE 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.

In this next installment of the ISMRM-WFPI Pediatric MRI Webinar series, our speakers will discuss whole-body MRI protocols in children. Our speakers will discuss the utility of WB-MRI in pediatric patients in two key contexts: clinical predisposition syndromes and vascular malformations. This webinar series is hosted by the WFPI.

Having described ASDs, VSDs, and patent arterial duct in the previous virtual meeting, part II will describe some of the other more commonly occurring congenital heart lesions. The talk will describe the underlying anatomy, physiology, and main principles of specific scanning protocols for diagnosis and surveillance of bicuspid aortic valve, aortopathy, coarctation aorta, tetralogy of fallot, and simple transposition of the great arteries following the arterial switch operation.

As novel imaging techniques and AI continue to advance, the necessity of contrast agents in cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is being questioned. Can we minimize contrast-enhanced imaging without sacrificing diagnostic accuracy, or do injections remain essential for the highest sensitivity and reliability?

This Cardiac Study Group virtual meeting will feature a debate with two expert perspectives:

Pro: Reducing Reliance on Contrast: Can AI & Emerging Techniques Minimize the Need for Injections in CMR?
Supporting a future with fewer injections, this argument will explore quantitative mapping, innovative non-contrast techniques, and AI-enabled solutions that could reduce traditional contrast-enhanced imaging.

Con: The Future of MR Sensitivity Lies in Injections
Defending the role of contrast agents, this argument will highlight why injections, including novel contrast agents, remain indispensable for tissue characterization, lesion detection, and clinical decision-making.

Join us for an expert debate on the future of contrast agents in CMR. Audience engagement is encouraged—come ready to challenge, question, and help shape the conversation.

MRI has become an established tool for diagnosing and monitoring multiple sclerosis (MS). As such, over the past few decades, MRI has played a transformative role in shaping the MS treatment landscape. Jointly hosted by the MR in Drug Research and White Matter study groups, the goal of this virtual meeting is to provide a comprehensive overview of how MRI has been integrated into MS clinical trials, leaning on pivotal trials as examples.

The first presentation will provide an overview of conventional MRI endpoints and myelin imaging. The second talk will focus on how emerging techniques have recently been incorporated, leveraging the development and clinical translation of paramagnetic rim lesions as an example.