Development of novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) algorithms for the assessment of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI)

轻度创伤性脑损伤（TBI）是一种常见的破坏性疾病，影响着全球数百万人。在加拿大，每年大约有16万新的mtbi病例，超过100万加拿大人由于这种类型的伤害而患有某种形式的残疾。一些mTBI病例可以在没有长期后遗症的情况下解决，而另一些则会对认知功能产生负面影响，并导致个体持续残疾。研究表明，mTBI可能有长期的后遗症，如学习困难、记忆受损、头痛和行为问题（即学业/职业后果）。**在mTBI之后，个体通常会进行一系列神经学和可能的神经心理学测试。这些是高度可变和不可复制的，因此充其量是定性的。测试可能包括也可能不包括常规成像（即计算机断层扫描，CT和磁共振成像，MRI）。但是，成像很少进行，因为它很少显示任何大脑异常。如果这样做，只是为了排除硬膜下/硬膜外血肿，这在mTBI中很少（如果有的话）看到。**我们已经开发并验证了新的MRI技术，使用大数据来识别由于mTBI而受损的大脑区域。这些方法依赖于从MRI扫描中获得的数据，这些数据可以在任何临床MRI上获得，而无需修改或特殊的研究密钥。由于没有客观的方法来评估mTBI，我们希望将我们的方法商业化。我们有来自专业和业余运动员以及法律和健康保险社区的高度兴趣。为了使我们的方法商业化，我们需要简化我们的分析软件以减少计算时间。此外，我们需要在我们的地区之外做广告，在加拿大范围内（甚至更远）获得使用我们方法的兴趣。该项目将加强麦克马斯特大学与先进成像合作伙伴（如西门子医疗和GE医疗）之间的关系，并将催生一家新的加拿大生物医学工程初创公司。

Mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common and devastating condition that affects millions of people globally. In Canada there are approximately 160,000 new mTBIs per year and over a million Canadians are living with some form of disability due to this type of injury. Some mTBI cases can resolve without long-term sequelae while others can negatively affect cognitive function and contribute to ongoing disability in the individual. Studies have shown that mTBI can have long-lasting sequelae such as learning difficulties, impaired memory, headaches and behavioural problems (i.e. academic/vocational consequences). ** Following mTBI an individual will typically have a battery of neurological and possibly neuropsychological testing done. These are highly variable and non reproducible, and thus qualitative at best. Testing may or may not include routine imaging (i.e. computed tomography, CT, and magnetic resonance imaging, MRI). But, imaging is infrequently performed because it rarely shows any brain abnormality. If done it is simply to rule out sub/epidural haematoma which would be rarely (if ever) seen in mTBI.** We have developed and validated novel MRI techniques, using big data, to identify areas of the brain that have been damaged as a result of mTBI. The methods rely on data acquired from MRI scans that can be acquired on any clinical MRI without modification or special research keys. Because there are no objective methods to assessing mTBI we would like to commercialize our methods. We have a high degree of interest from professional and amateur athletes as well as both the legal and health insurance communities. To commercialize our approach we need to streamline our analysis software to reduce computational time. Furthermore, we need to advertise outside of our region, Canada-wide (and even farther) to garner interest in use of our approach. This project will strengthen the relationship between McMaster University and advanced imaging partners (e.g. Siemens Healthcare and GE Healthcare) and will give birth to a new Canadian biomedical engineering start-up company.