Development of new methods to measure in vivo properties of human body tissues

该项目将开发一种新的方法，使用一种新的磁共振弹性成像技术，非侵入性地测量活体人体软组织的粘弹性特性。这些方法将被应用于研究人类肌肉-肌腱系统的运作，颈部肌肉特性随年龄和性别的差异，并在体内测量人类大脑、肾脏和肝脏的特性。这些技术在诊断软组织疾病或损伤方面可能很有用，目前使用标准成像技术很难检测到这些疾病或损伤。它还将解释在活人的正常运动中肌肉-肌腱单元是如何运动的。

This project will develop new methods of noninvasively measuring the viscoelastic properties of soft tissues in live humans, using a novel magnetic resonance elastography technique. These methods will be applied to study the operation of the human muscle-tendon system, differences in neck muscle properties with age and gender and to measure the properties of the human brain, kidney and liver in vivo. These techniques may be useful in diagnosing soft tissue disease or injury which are currently difficult to detect using standard imaging techniques. It will also explain how the muscle-tendon unit moves during normal motion in live humans.