Novel RF Coils and k-t Space Imaging for Neonatal Chest MRI within NICUs

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议的项目回应了公共卫生问题：在美国，早产发生率不断上升。在过去的三十年里，早产率增加了30%。今天，早产每年造成50多万例新生儿，每年造成的费用至少为260亿美元。随着早产造成的公共卫生和经济负担不断增加，新生儿重症监护室（NICU）内的新生儿患者迫切需要常规使用低成本、高性能的诊断成像系统。磁共振成像（MRI）已被公认为是一种安全和强大的工具，新生儿成像。然而，MRI系统通常放置在远离NICU的放射科，并且在NICU和MRI设施之间运输早产儿将婴儿置于显著的医疗风险中。此外，新生儿的图像质量是次优的 因为现有的MRI技术已经针对成人患者进行了优化。在辛辛那提儿童医院医疗中心（CCHMC），我们正在解决新生儿MRI的后勤和技术挑战。已经安装了两台低成本、小口径（28厘米）的1.5特斯拉MRI扫描仪：一台放置在生物安全2级实验室进行临床前开发。另一个在NICU内，专门用于新生儿成像。这里提出的工作是一个更大的努力，使高性能MRI到新生儿重症监护室使用这两个小足迹MRI扫描仪提供的平台的一部分。在这个项目中，我们的努力将集中在早产儿的肺和心血管系统的MRI。临床前扫描仪将用于开发专门的射频（RF）线圈和k-t空间成像技术，用于新生儿胸部MRI。通过将新技术集成到NICU MRI系统中，我们将为NICU内的新生儿胸部成像创建新的临床标准。这将为针对肺和心血管并发症的诊断和管理的临床MRI研究奠定坚实的基础，这些并发症是早产儿发病和死亡的主要原因。因此，该项目有望改善新生儿患者的临床护理，推进新生儿人群的MRI，并为研究早期人类发育提供新的研究工具。本项目的技术创新虽然针对新生儿成像，但可用于提高MRI的临床实用性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed project responds to a public health concern: the growing incidence of premature births, in the United States. Over the last three decades, the rate of premature delivery has increased by 30%. Today, prematurity accounts for more than 500,000 births per year and results in an annual cost of at least $26 billion. With the steadily increasing public health and economic burden of premature births, there is a strong/compelling need for the routine use of low-cost and high-performance diagnostic imaging systems in neonatal patients within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been recognized as a safe and powerful tool for neonatal imaging. However, MRI systems are typically placed in Radiology departments far from the NICU and the transportation of a premature infant between the NICU and the MRI facility places the infant at significant medical risk. Furthermore, the image quality for neonates is sub- optimal since existing MRI techniques have been optimized for adult patients. At Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC), we are addressing both the logistical and technical challenges of neonatal MRI. Two low-cost, small-bore (28 cm) 1.5 Tesla MRI scanners have been installed: One is placed in a biosafety level 2 laboratory for preclinical development. The other is within the NICU and dedicated for neonatal imaging. The work proposed here is part of a larger effort to bring high-performance MRI into the NICU using the platform provided by these two small-footprint MRI scanners. In this project, our effort will be focused on MRI of the pulmonary and cardiovascular systems of premature babies. The preclinical scanner will be used to develop specialized radiofrequency (RF) coils and k-t space imaging techniques for neonatal chest MRI. By integrating the new technology into the NICU MRI system, we will create a new clinical standard for imaging neonatal chest within the NICU. This will lay a strong foundation for clinical MRI studies directed towards the diagnosis and management of pulmonary and cardiovascular complications that have been leading causes of morbidity and mortality of premature babies. As such, this project promises to improve clinical care of neonatal patients, advance MRI for the neonatal population, and provide new research tools for investigating early human development. The technological innovation in this project, although targeted at neonatal imaging, may be used to improve the clinical utility of MRI in general.