Novel MRI Techniques to Image Hippocampal Internal Architecture

描述（由申请人提供）：Lawrence Ver Hoef博士是伯明翰亚拉巴马大学的癫痫病学家和神经病学助理教授。Ver Hoef博士拥有生物医学工程的工程和博士后研究生课程的本科背景，旨在将自己确立为技术转化神经成像研究员，弥合MRI工程界未应用的尖端能力与临床神经科学界疾病特异性成像需求之间的差距，以促进合作努力。这两个高度专业化的领域将大大受益于一个研究人员谁是流利的两种语言谁可以连接工程能力需要的应用与临床研究需要更好的工具。为了实现这一目标，Ver Hoef博士将通过一个指导项目和教育课程来发展他的研究能力，这将完成他的工程证书，使他具备生物统计学和研究设计方面的技能，并提供管理项目的实践经验。 有工程和临床成分。该项目将优化一种新的MRI技术（“3D锥”），以生成人类海马体的高分辨率薄片图像，这将清楚地显示正常的分层海马体内部结构（HIA）。在冠状面MRI上，HIA的分化丢失被认为是癫痫患者海马硬化（HS）的一个影像学标志。HS是难治性癫痫的常见原因，但也可以通过切除手术高度治愈。目前的MRI技术是不一致的，很难证明HIA。因此，一致地显示HIA或其异常的成像技术可以将某些患有致残性难治性癫痫的患者识别为具有良好的癫痫发作自由预后的手术候选者。该项目将利用3D锥体成像技术结合多图像平均（以提高信噪比）和扫描间共配准（以尽量减少移动影响）。将优化几个特定参数，以产生HIA的最佳可能差异。然后将新技术与标准MRI技术进行比较，以证明其优越性。Ver Hoef博士将在生物医学工程和临床神经成像专家的指导下进行密切的指导。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Dr. Lawrence Ver Hoef is an epileptologist and Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. With an undergraduate background in engineering and post-doctoral graduate studies in biomedical engineering, Dr. Ver Hoef seeks to establish himself as a technical translational neuroimaging researcher that bridges the gap between the unapplied cutting-edge abilities of the MRI engineering community and the disease-specific imaging needs of the clinical neuroscience community to facilitate cooperative endeavors. These two highly specialized arenas would benefit greatly from a researcher who is fluent in both languages who could connect engineering abilities in need of application with clinical investigations in need of better tools. To accomplish this goal Dr Ver Hoef will develop his research abilities through a mentored project and educational curriculum that will complete his engineering credentials, equip him with skills in biostatistics and study design, and provide hands-on experience managing a project with engineering and clinical components. The project will optimize a novel MRI technique ("3D Cones") to generate high-resolution thin-sliced images of the human hippocampus that will clearly demonstrate the normal layered hippocampal internal architecture (HIA). A loss of differentiation of HIA on coronal MRI has been suggested to be an imaging halmark of hippocampal sclerosis (HS) in epilepsy patients. HS is a common cause of medically refractory epilepsy, but is also highly remediable with resective surgery. Current MRI techniques are inconsistent and poorly able to demonstrate HIA. Therefore, an imaging technique that consistently demonstrates HIA, or abnormalities thereof, may identify certain patients with disabling, intractible epilepsy as surgical candidates with an excellent prognosis for seizure freedom. The project will utilize the 3D cones imaging technique in conjunction with multiple-image averaging (to improve signal to noise ratio) and inter-scan co-registration (to minimize movement effects). Several specific parameters will be optimized to generate the best possible differentiation of HIA. The new technique will then be compared to standard MRI techniques to demonstrate superiority. Dr. Ver Hoef will have close mentorship under experts in both biomedical engineering and clinical neuroimaging.