Clinical MRI of Peripheral Arterial Disease

描述（由申请人提供）：需要更好的无创成像方法来检测和评估外周动脉疾病的性质，以制定治疗计划和监测。随着血管生成剂和干细胞移植作为严重下肢缺血患者潜在的新治疗选择的出现，这种非侵入性评估方法的重要性正在增长。 该研究项目的目的是开发和评估新的磁共振（MR）成像方法，旨在改善外周动脉疾病患者的检测和表征。这些新的MR成像工具包括用于评估1）下肢血管解剖结构，2）全局和局部灌注，以及3）皮肤解剖结构和生理学的工具。一般假设是，一套新的无创和客观的工具来表征血管解剖结构，深部组织和浅表皮肤灌注，皮肤形态将提供一个更少的病态和更准确的预测治疗和严重外周动脉疾病的患者的结果。 研究设计将包括技术研究，导致临床研究评估这些方法的有效性。技术研究将针对开发和优化各种MR序列，并在受控情况下对其进行验证。临床研究将在患有严重肢体缺血和皮肤病理学的患者中进行。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is a need for better noninvasive imaging methods to detect and assess the nature of peripheral arterial disease for therapeutic planning and monitoring. With the emergence of angiogenetic agents and stem-cell transplantation as potentially new therapeutic options for patients with severe lower extremity ischemia, the importance of such noninvasive assessment methods is growing. The aim of this research program is to develop and evaluate new magnetic resonance (MR) imaging methods aimed at enabling improved detection and characterization of patients with peripheral arterial disease. These new MR imaging tools include those to assess 1) lower extremity vessel anatomy, 2) global and regional perfusion, and 3) skin anatomy and physiology. The general hypothesis is that a new noninvasive and objective set of tools to characterize vascular anatomy, deep tissue and superficial skin perfusion, and skin morphology will provide a less morbid and more accurate predictor of therapy and outcome in patients with severe peripheral arterial disease. The research design will consist of technical studies leading to clinical studies evaluating the efficacy of these methods. The technical studies will be directed at developing and optimizing the various MR sequences and validating them under controlled situations. The clinical studies will be performed on patients with critical limb ischemia and skin pathology.