Susceptibility: Applications

Hongjiang Wei¹
¹Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

Synopsis

Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) provides a non-invasive way to measure the spatial distribution of magnetic susceptibility. In brain tissue, the susceptibility can originate from several biomaterials and molecules such as iron, myelin, calcium, deoxyhemoglobin, etc. The state and concentration of these molecules may change with brain developmental and aging processes or the pathological processes of neurodegenerative diseases, e.g., Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis. Furthermore, QSM improves the visualization of deep gray matters, showing the potential to accurately brain segmentation and helpful for atlas construction. Additionally, the applications of QSM outside the brain are also introduced.

Introduction

Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) is a relatively new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique for quantifying the spatial biodistribution of an object under investigation. The tremendous efforts in recent years to eliminate the nonlocal phase problem have led to the development of QSM, which overcomes the deconvolution or inverse problem in SWI and provides a quantitative measure of magnetic susceptibility in tissues [1,2]. Recently, there has been increasing interest in applying QSM for investigating a wide range of disease processes such as demyelination, microbleeds, inflammation, copper accumulation, and iron overload in the brain [3-8]. Furthermore, QSM improves the visualization of deep gray matters, such as the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and globus pallidus pars internus (GPi). Its application in deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery has the potential to accurately locate the electrode targets. QSM has also shown promising for brain atlas construction due to its high tissue susceptibility contrast during registration [9-11]. Consequently, QSM has been increasingly recognized as a useful tool in the neuroscience field. More recently, more advanced methodologies are still developed to promote the QSM technique including improving the quantification accuracy, and achieving the quantification of paramagnetic and diamagnetic susceptibility in the sub-voxel scale for more potential applications [12,13]. Additionally, the applications of QSM on the tissue outside the brain are also introduced [14-18]. The purpose of this talk is to summarize the physical concepts, computational strategies, and applications of QSM for tissue susceptibility quantification.

Acknowledgements

No acknowledgement found.

References

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Proc. Intl. Soc. Mag. Reson. Med. 30 (2022)