Development of coil technologies for 3T and 7T MRI of the spinal cord

脊髓损伤(SCI)是影响86,000加拿大人的一种严重的致病原因。虽然脊髓损伤没有治愈的方法，但有几种治疗方法。然而，它们的疗效很大程度上取决于对脊髓的损害，如病变的大小和变性的白质通路的数量和类型。因此，能够非常敏感和准确地评估脊髓损伤对于提高诊断和在测试新药时跟踪脊髓结构变化是至关重要的。磁共振成像(MRI)的最新进展表明，通过使用扩散张量成像和磁化传递等半定量指标，可以评估脊髓白质通路的结构损伤。然而，这些技术目前受到低灵敏度(即低信号)和伪影(如图像失真)的存在的限制。为了克服这些挑战，我们建议使用(I)先进的相控阵线圈技术，通过使用并行成像来提高信号接收的灵敏度，并将敏感性伪影降至最低；(Ii)超高场磁共振(7特斯拉)，以进一步提高灵敏度，并实现更高的空间分辨率，以检测细微的异常。因此，这项建议的目的是通过开发用于3Tesla(T)和7T MRI的新线圈技术来表征脊髓损伤的MRI损伤。我们将首先为小动物(大鼠)开发线圈，然后使用7T磁共振成像在脊髓损伤模型中验证MRI指标。在这些指标得到验证后，我们将为3T和7T人体磁共振系统开发新的线圈，并将这些开发应用于患有脊髓损伤的患者。我们预计，这些发展将改善脊髓创伤患者的诊断和预后，更广泛地说，新技术可以应用于任何影响脊髓的病理，包括多发性硬化症和肿瘤。

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a severe cause of morbidity that affects 86,000 of Canadians. Although there is no cure to SCI, several therapeutic approaches exist. However, their efficacy strongly depends on the damage to the spinal cord, such as the size of the lesion and the number and type of white matter pathways that have degenerated. Hence, it is crucial to be able to assess spinal cord damage with great sensitivity and accuracy for improving diagnosis and for following structural changes to the spinal cord while testing new drugs. Recent advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have shown the possibility to assess structural damage to the spinal white matter pathways, via the use of semi-quantitative metrics such as diffusion tensor imaging and magnetization transfer. However, these techniques are currently limited by the poor sensitivity (i.e. low signal) and the presence of artifacts (such as image distortion). To overcome these challenges, we propose to use (i) advanced phased-array coil technology to improve the sensitivity of signal reception and minimize susceptibility artifacts via the use of parallel imaging and (ii) ultra-high field MRI (7 tesla) to further increase sensitivity and enable higher spatial resolution for detecting subtle abnormalities. The objective of this proposal is therefore to characterize the damage in SCI with MRI of the spinal cord via the development of new coil technologies for 3 tesla (T) and 7T MRI. We will start by developing coils for small animals (rats), then validating the MRI metrics in a model of SCI using a 7T MRI. Upon validation of these metrics, we will develop new coils for 3T and 7T human MRI systems and apply these developments to people suffering from SCI. We anticipate that these developments will improve the diagnosis and prognosis of people suffering from spinal cord trauma and, more generally, the new technology can be applied to any pathology affecting the spinal cord, including multiple sclerosis and tumors.