Quantitative MRI of the Human Peripheral Nervous System In Vivo

体内人体周围神经系统的定量 MRI

• 批准号: 8300622
• 负责人: Richard Dortch
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-05-01 至 2017-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8300622
• 关键词: Address; Affect; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis; Ankle; Axon; Biological Markers; Biopsy; Brain; Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease; Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy; Clinical; Clinical Trials; Demyelinations; Dependence; Development; Diabetic Neuropathies; Diffusion; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Disease; Distal; Echo-Planar Imaging; Fatty acid glycerol esters; Genetic; Goals; Gold; Hip region structure; Human; Image; Imaging Techniques; Impairment; Knee; Leg; Length; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Measurement; Measures; Methods; Metric; Multiple Sclerosis; Muscular Atrophy; Myelin; Nature; Nerve; Neural Conduction; Neuraxis; Neuropathy; Pathology; Patients; Peripheral Nerves; Peripheral Nervous System; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases; Protocols documentation; Protons; Recovery; Relative (related person); Reporting; Reproducibility; Research; Resolution; Sensory; Skin; Specificity; Structure; Structure of tibial nerve; Time; Tissues; Validation; Water; axonal degeneration; base; disability; disorder subtype; drug discovery; follow-up; hereditary neuropathy; imaging modality; in vivo; innovation; meetings; novel; peroneal nerve; programs; sciatic nerve; treatment response; validation studies; water diffusion

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of the research proposed is to develop and validate a quantitative, multi-parametric set of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques for the assessment of pathological and functional changes accompanying human peripheral neuropathy in vivo. Quantitative MRI metrics of diffusion (primarily sensitive to axonal structure), magnetization transfer (primarily sensitive to myelin), and multiexponential T2 (primarily sensitive to water compartment sizes) have provided valuable information on tissue microstructure and pathological changes in the brain. However, no studies have applied these methods to study peripheral neuropathies in humans in vivo. This can be attributed to the technical challenges associated with MRI of peripheral nerves, including the need for higher spatial resolution, a lack of contrast on standard anatomical images, and the influence of surrounding fat. We propose to address these technical challenges with a program of innovative, technical developments that will provide a set of multiple MRI parameters for characterizing peripheral nerves that in turn will be evaluated as potential biomarkers of nerve pathology. More specifically, the research proposed would focus on development and validation of robust, clinically feasible, high-resolution, quantitative MRI methods (diffusion, MT, MET2) of tibial (from ankle to knee) and sciatic nerves (from knee to hip) to access the length dependent nature of certain neuropathies. As an initial application, the developed methods will be applied in patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a slowly progressing group of inherited neuropathies with well-defined genetic causes. Clinically, CMT is divided on the basis of nerve conduction studies (NCS) into CMT1 (primary demyelination with secondary axonal degeneration) and CMT2 (primary axonal degeneration). Our initial studies will assess the ability of quantitative MRI to detect and distinguish pathology in and between CMT subtypes. For validation, correlations between MRI metrics and clinical measures that report of pathological (NCS, skin biopsy) and functional (neuropathy disability score) changes in CMT patients will also be determined. If successful, these studies may yield biomarkers of treatment responses and tissue status for use in clinical trials and drug discovery. Additionally, the developed methods may have broader implications in a number of other peripheral neuropathies (e.g., diabetic neuropathy) as well as in diseases that affect myelin and/or axons within the central nervous system (e.g., multiple sclerosis). PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The overall goal of this research is to develop and validate quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to assess diseases that affect the peripheral nervous system, or peripheral neuropathies. To date, no studies have applied quantitative MRI to study peripheral neuropathies in humans in vivo because of the technical challenges associated with imaging peripheral nerves. We propose to address these technical challenges with a program of innovative, technical developments that will provide a set of MRI parameters for characterizing peripheral nerves, which will in turn be evaluated as potential biomarkers of nerve pathology in neuropathy patients.

描述（由申请人提供）：提出的研究的总体目标是开发和验证一套定量的、多参数的磁共振成像（MRI）技术，用于评估体内伴随人类周围神经病变的病理和功能变化。定量MRI扩散指标（主要对轴突敏感）