Masaaki Hori1,2, Nikola Stikov3, Ryuji Nojiri2, Yasuaki Tsurushima2, Katsutoshi Murata4, Keiichi Ishigame2, Kouhei Kamiya5, Yuichi Suzuki5, Koji kamagata1, and Shigeki Aoki1
1Radiology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, 2Tokyo Medical Clinic, Tokyo, Japan, 3Ecole Polytechnique, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada, 4Siemens Japan, Tokyo, Japan, 5Radiology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Synopsis
The
purpose of this exhibit is to present the feasibility of MR g-ratio mapping for
whole brain and cervical spinal cord using a 10 minute protocol. This protocol is
appropriate for clinical use and provides reasonable image quality for clinical
diagnosis. In vivo MR g-ratio mapping warrants daily clinical use as it has
potential to provide additional information about WM microstructure and its changes
in pathology.Target audience
Researchers
and clinicians who investigate the brain and spinal cord by using diffusion-weighted
imaging and quantitative MRI.
Purpose
In
addition to structural conventional MR imaging, magnetic resonance (MR) g-ratio
mapping has been introduced as an important technique because it can provide
microstructural information about the myelin thickness in vivo, which is not available
from other imaging techniques
1. G-ratio is defined as the ratio of the axon to
the axon plus myelin diameter of the white matter fiber. MR g-ratio maps are
usually generated from MR data consisting of two quantitative MR measurements,
myelin volume fraction (MVF) and axon volume fraction (AVF). Several MR imaging
methods were proposed to acquire MVF and AVF in vivo, however, the combination
of these techniques often needs more than 30 minutes, which is too long for
patients in a clinical setting. We optimized the imaging parameters for
quantitative T1 mapping for MVF and neurite orientation dispersion and density
imaging (NODDI)
2 for AVF. As a result, total scan time for both imaging sequence
is approximately 10 minutes and ready for daily clinical use.
The
purpose of this exhibit is to present the feasibility of MR g-ratio mapping for
whole brain and cervical spinal cord using a 10 minute protocol for clinical use.
Methods
We
will demonstrate the basics of a new MR g-ratio mapping technique and discuss
its benefits compared to other approaches, such as T2 relaxometry and
quantitative magnetization transfer methods for MVF imaging, and NODDI or other
diffusion MR imaging methods for AVF. We
chose quantitative T1 mapping sequence for MVF for our protocol because of its
relatively shorter scanning time and its image quality. The key for the MVF
quantification using T1 value is the linear relationship between macromolecular
tissue volume and T1
3, keeping in mind that approximately half of the macromolecules
of white matter (WM) are comprised of myelin
4. Moreover, we chose NODDI for AVF as
described in the literature1, with use of multiband EPI technique for reducing
scanning time
5. As
a result, total scanning time for whole brain and cervical spinal cord g-ratio
mapping were 10 min. 39 sec. and 10min. 18 sec., respectively. Details for each protocol is shown in the table 1. MR g-ratio using MVF and AVF
is defined as ($$$g
= \sqrt{1 - \frac{MVF}{FVF}}$$$)
1.
Results
We
present MR g-ratio maps of a normal volunteer (Figure 1) and a clinical case of multiple
sclerosis in brain (Figure 2) and cervical
spinal cord. We observe that g-ratio is constant in healthy and
normal-appearing white matter, but changes in regions with demyelination. MR g-ratio mapping would provide additional
information of microstructural changes in WM, in degenerative and demyelinating
disease in particular.
Discussion
The
g-ratio values computed with our protocol agree with literature. The decreased g-ratio in a lesion shows our
method is sensitive to demyelination.
However, the trend is opposite of what we expect (higher g-ratio due to
demyelination), which could be due to improper calibration of the MVF
technique.
Summary
This
exhibit demonstrates the clinical feasibility of MR g-ratio mapping for whole
brain and cervical spinal cord using a 10 minutes protocol. This protocol seems
to be tolerable for clinical use and reasonable image quality for clinical
diagnosis. In vivo MR g-ratio mapping warrants daily clinical use and has the potential
to provide additional information of WM microstructure and its changes in
pathology.
Acknowledgements
N/AReferences
1. Stikov
N, Campbell JS, Stroh T, et al. In vivo histology of the myelin g-ratio with
magnetic resonance imaging. Neuroimage. 2015;118:397-405.
2. Zhang H, Schneider T, Wheeler-Kingshott CA, Alexander DC.NODDI: practical in vivo neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging ofthe human brain. Neuroimage. 2012;61(4):1000-16.
3. Mezer
A, Yeatman JD, Stikov N, et al. Quantifying
the local tissue volume and composition in individual brains with magnetic
resonance imaging. Nat Med. 2013 ;19(12):1667-72.
4. Norton, W.T., Autilio, L.A. The lipid composition
of purified bovine brain myelin. J. Neurochem. 1966;13, 213–222.
5. Xu J, Moeller S, Auerbach EJ, et al. Evaluation of slice accelerations using multiband echo planar imaging at 3 T.Neuroimage. 2013;83:991-1001.