ISMRM Workshop on
Quantitative Body Imaging
Hyatt Regency, New Delhi, India

Overview

Abdominal imaging poses deep MR challenges both from an MR-acquisitions perspective and also that of clinical MRI. Small lesions or subtle pathology must be definitively characterized in large imaging volumes. These challenges are opportunities for improvements in fast MRI, quantitation of relevant parameters, and clinical innovations. In recent years, there has been substantial work done to bring a quantitative dimension to abdominal MRI. At this workshop, we will attempt to gain an overview of the basic and clinical science advances in quantitative abdominal imaging, and to gain some insight into where the field can be expected to go. Attendees will learn about rapid MRI and acquisitions, methods for quantitatively measuring tissue properties of interest, and how these methods are being brought to clinical practice.

The goal of this three-day workshop is to have sessions of invited talks and proffered papers on key subjects, as well as allow for presentation of new or developing methods that have not yet caught the attention of the organizers. Students who do not have invited talks will have ample opportunity to present papers both as oral and poster sessions. The conference will also be organized to include plenty of opportunity for free interactions within the group to encourage development of collaborations between the various groups from around the world. Attendees should also have an opportunity to see some of what Delhi has to offer as an international city of notable interest.

Target Audience

This workshop is intended for physicians, physician-scientists, and basic scientists alike, and the content will highlight in equal parts the technical developments that are happening that enable quantitative body imaging as well as the clinical opportunities (or potential opportunities) that these technologies enable. The workshop would sit at the cutting edge of both technical and clinical worlds. The range of expertise of attendees will likely span all of MR science, including (but not limited to) MR physics, biomedical engineering, electrical engineering/computer science, body radiology, and general radiology. The range of training will also span all of MR: basic and clinical scientists, clinical radiologists, basic and clinical postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and MR technologists.

Educational Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

• Identify, implement, and compare and contrast key acquisition approaches used today in quantitative abdominal imaging, including diffusion, perfusion, fat fraction mapping, relaxation parameter mapping, and elastography;
• Summarize how the above approaches for quantitative abdominal imaging are used clinically in benign and malignant diseases of the abdomino-pelvic organs, and apply these techniques to their clinical practice;
• Recognize and work to improve the technical, standardization, and clinical challenges to quantitative imaging in the abdomen; and
• Identify and develop promising future technical and clinical advances in the field of quantitative abdominal MRI.