Development of novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) algorithms for the assessment of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI)

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Mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common and devastating condition that affects millions of people globally. In Canada there are approximately 160,000 new mTBIs per year and over a million Canadians are living with some form of disability due to this type of injury. Some mTBI cases can resolve without long-term sequelae while others can negatively affect cognitive function and contribute to ongoing disability in the individual. Studies have shown that mTBI can have long-lasting sequelae such as learning difficulties, impaired memory, headaches and behavioural problems (i.e. academic/vocational consequences). ** Following mTBI an individual will typically have a battery of neurological and possibly neuropsychological testing done. These are highly variable and non reproducible, and thus qualitative at best. Testing may or may not include routine imaging (i.e. computed tomography, CT, and magnetic resonance imaging, MRI). But, imaging is infrequently performed because it rarely shows any brain abnormality. If done it is simply to rule out sub/epidural haematoma which would be rarely (if ever) seen in mTBI.** We have developed and validated novel MRI techniques, using big data, to identify areas of the brain that have been damaged as a result of mTBI. The methods rely on data acquired from MRI scans that can be acquired on any clinical MRI without modification or special research keys. Because there are no objective methods to assessing mTBI we would like to commercialize our methods. We have a high degree of interest from professional and amateur athletes as well as both the legal and health insurance communities. To commercialize our approach we need to streamline our analysis software to reduce computational time. Furthermore, we need to advertise outside of our region, Canada-wide (and even farther) to garner interest in use of our approach. This project will strengthen the relationship between McMaster University and advanced imaging partners (e.g. Siemens Healthcare and GE Healthcare) and will give birth to a new Canadian biomedical engineering start-up company.