Magnetic Resonance Elastography

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We are in the process of developing a clinical protocol for performing Magnetic Resonance Elastography in the human brain. It is known that in some disease states, such as acute stroke, brain edema changes the elastic properties of brain tissue significantly as a result of increased local pressure leading to further damage of healthy tissue. It is also known that the phase component in the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) signal contains information about tissue movement. If a standing vibration wave pattern of known frequency is established in the tissue and in synchrony with the magnetic gradients, it is possible to obtain the 3-D wave pattern, which may then be inverted to obtain a 3-D map of mechanical properties of the tissue. Such a protocol could have significant diagnostic value for a number of cases beyond that of stroke. We have already developed and tested the mechanical transducer that will be used to excite vibration in the brain and it was shown that this can be achieved safely and with minimal patient discomfort. We are currently developing the application of the IRB approved protocol using human subjects.