Scan-rescan Reproducibility of Myelin Sensitive MRI Techniques

University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland13 enrolled

Overview

This study is to assess the variation in the measurements of myelin sensitive MRI techniques in both white and grey matter in the brain.

Magnetization Transfer Imaging (MTI) permits the assessment of the integrity of macromolecules in brain tissue, such as myelin and cellular/axonal membrane components. Multi-echo Susceptibility-Based imaging (SBI) provides quantitative susceptibility maps and T2\* maps that - when combined - permit the disentanglement of myelin from iron and various phases of myelin degradation. Myelin Water Imaging (MWI) quantifies the water trapped between myelin layers by separating the multiple water components in T2 relaxometry data. In fact, the presence of myelin on water pools bound to it provokes a loss in magnetic resonance (MR)-signal coherence, which is more rapid than the one characterizing the water pools located within the axons or in the cytoplasm. A method based on a spiral acquisition that achieves a myelin-specific signal in clinically compatible scan times is currently applied: T1 relaxometry (quantitative T1, qT1) - which measures the time that a perturbed nuclear spin distribution needs to get back to equilibrium in the longitudinal plane- is sensitive to a number of components of the brain tissue such as myelin, axonal diameter and the overall architectural organization of the brain tissue. Finally, multi-shell diffusion allows the application of mathematical models of diffusion compartments, which in part are influenced by myelin integrity. The goal of this study is to assess the stability of these techniques in scan-rescan experiment on 20 healthy subjects.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

Conditions

Myelin Integrity

Interventions

myelin sensitive MRI scanDIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Acquisition of 3 myelin sensitive MRI scans as follows: 1. Two MRI during 1 day; the second after 30 min interval and a repositioning. 2\. One MRI within one week after the first one. The total scan time will be \~ 1 hour. T1 maps will be calculated after magnetization-prepared 2 rapid acquisition gradient echoes (MP2RAGE6) acquisition based on a product sequence. Magnetization Transfer (MT) sat maps will be calculated. Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) maps will be reconstructed using an in-house implementation of the structural feature based collaborative reconstruction algorithm (SFCR). For the reconstruction of multi-shell diffusion data, AMICO10 Accelerated Microstructure Imaging via Convex Optimization (AMICO) from diffusion MRI data will be used. Myelin Water Fraction maps will be fitted voxel-wise using a Non-Negative Least Squares fitting.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 80 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * No neurological or psychiatric disorder Exclusion Criteria: * Pregnancy * Contraindication to MRI (eg, claustrophobia, metallic implants, pacemaker etc). * Inability to give consent.

Locations (1)

Neurologische Klinik und Poliklinik, University Hospital Basel

Basel, Switzerland

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

analysis of variance between MTI, SBI, MWI, T1 relaxometry and multi-shell diffusion obtained in each subject in each of the 3 scan sessions

statistical analysis of variance between MTI, SBI, MWI, T1 relaxometry and multi-shell diffusion obtained in each subject in each of the 3 scan sessions

Time frame: 1 hour total scan time (during a time period of max. 1 week)

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

This platform is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional.