Technical Advances for Sodium Magnetic Resonance Imaging

钠磁共振成像的技术进步

• 批准号: RGPIN-2022-03269
• 负责人: Beaulieu, Christian
• 金额: $ 3.35万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=746137
• 关键词: Technical; Advances; Sodium; Magnetic; Resonance

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a core modern health care technology that provides unparalleled non-invasive images of the human body reflecting underlying structure, function, and metabolism in various organs. Over the last 35 years, university-based engineering advances in hardware, software and imaging physics have greatly increased the quality and capability of MRI. Routine clinical MRI acquires signal from the two hydrogen nuclei (1H) in the water molecule, of which we are primarily composed. However, water MRI cannot not detect all abnormalities. Our solution is to enable MRI image acquisition from other chemical elements important for proper cell functioning and health, like sodium (23Na). Note that the MRI physics of 23Na is considerably more complicated than that of 1H. Over the last 20 years, we have been developing sodium MRI with a focus on the brain (for stroke and multiple sclerosis) and cartilage (for osteoarthritis). The proposed NSERC Discovery grant is to advance MRI technology to image sodium in the skin. Salt (or sodium) in diet plays a key role in health, particularly as it relates to the "silent killer" hyper-tension (i.e. high blood pressure), which is far too prevalent in Canada and world-wide. Although one can measure sodium levels in a blood sample, this does not show how much sodium is accumulated in various tissues throughout the body. In fact, it has recently been discovered that skin (the largest organ of the body) is a major reservoir for excess sodium. International non-invasive studies with sodium MRI (usually of the human calf) has shown that skin sodium is elevated in men, aging, hypertension, obesity and clinical conditions such as diabetes, heart failure, and kidney disease. Although these results demonstrate promising utility for sodium MRI, the imaging methods used in these studies were simply borrowed from 1H MRI, and their low resolution images yield large errors in sodium level estimation. Our primary research goal is to enable accurate sodium concentration through novel engineering development specifically tailored for sodium MRI of the skin, which is challenging given how thin it is (only 1-2 mm thick). High-resolution images (like 4K television screens) are necessary, but this requires the design and construction of more sensitive MRI hardware (antennas), as well as inventing and optimizing new sodium-specific image acquisition software. These technology advancements will be guided by both computer simulation and experimental measurements. These optimal sodium MRI methods will be used to measure sodium concentrations in the skin (calf) of healthy individuals over a wide age range (children to the elderly), both males and females. This will establish a new `normative' basis for future comparisons to people with disease. Our sodium MRI advancements will also be made publicly and freely available for use by groups world-wide to improve their studies.

磁共振成像（MRI）是一种核心的现代医疗保健技术，可提供无与伦比的非侵入性人体图像，反映各种器官的基本结构，功能和代谢。在过去的35年里，基于大学的硬件，软件和成像物理学的工程进步大大提高了MRI的质量和能力。常规临床MRI从水分子中的两个氢核（1H）获取信号，我们主要由水分子组成。然而，水MRI不能检测所有异常。我们的解决方案是从其他对细胞正常功能和健康至关重要的化学元素（如钠（23 Na））中获取MRI图像。请注意，23 Na的MRI物理学比1H复杂得多。在过去的20年里，我们一直在开发钠MRI，重点是大脑（中风和多发性硬化症）和软骨（骨关节炎）。拟议中的NSERC发现补助金将用于推进MRI技术，以成像皮肤中的钠。饮食中的盐（或钠）在健康中起着关键作用，特别是因为它与“沉默的杀手”高血压（即高血压）有关，高血压在加拿大和世界范围内非常普遍。虽然人们可以测量血液样本中的钠水平，但这并不能显示体内各种组织中积累了多少钠。事实上，最近发现皮肤（身体最大的器官）是过量钠的主要储存库。国际非侵入性钠MRI研究（通常是人类小牛）表明，皮肤钠在男性、衰老、高血压、肥胖和糖尿病、心力衰竭和肾脏疾病等临床疾病中升高。尽管这些结果证明了钠MRI的良好实用性，但这些研究中使用的成像方法只是借用了1H MRI，其低分辨率图像在钠水平估计中产生较大误差。我们的主要研究目标是通过专门为皮肤的钠MRI量身定制的新工程开发来实现准确的钠浓度，考虑到它是多么薄（只有1-2 mm厚），这是具有挑战性的。高分辨率图像（如4K电视屏幕）是必要的，但这需要设计和构建更灵敏的MRI硬件（天线），以及发明和优化新的钠特定图像采集软件。这些技术进步将由计算机模拟和实验测量指导。这些最佳钠MRI方法将用于测量男性和女性健康个体皮肤（小腿）中的钠浓度，年龄范围很广（儿童至老年人）。这将为今后与患病者的比较建立一个新的“规范”基础。我们的钠MRI进步也将公开和免费提供给世界各地的团体使用，以改善他们的研究。