Next generation in-vivo diffusion imaging at submillimeter resolution

亚毫米分辨率的下一代体内扩散成像

• 批准号: 10291618
• 负责人: Yogesh Rathi
• 金额: $ 76.18万
• 依托单位: STANFORD UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-11-01 至 2023-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10291618
• 关键词: 3-Dimensional; Acceleration; Adolescent; Algorithms; Anatomy; Architecture; Area; Awareness; Brain; Brain Diseases; Clinical; Contrast Sensitivity; Data; Data Set; Deep Brain Stimulation; Development; Diffusion; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Disease; Electrodes; Ensure; Estimation Techniques; Experimental Designs; Fiber; Gold; Grant; Human; Image; Image-Guided Surgery; Imaging technology; Investigation; Joints; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Maps; Methods; Modeling; Morphologic artifacts; Motion; Neurodevelopmental Disorder; Neurologic; Neurosciences; Pathology; Pathway interactions; Phase; Play; Population Study; Positioning Attribute; Protocols documentation; Resolution; Role; Sampling; Scanning; Scheme; Signal Transduction; Slice; Speed; Structure; Techniques; Technology; Testing; Time; Tissues; Validation; Variant; Work; biobank; cognitive development; connectome; data standards; design; gray matter; healthy volunteer; human data; human subject; image reconstruction; imaging capabilities; improved; in vivo; in vivo imaging; motion sensitivity; nervous system disorder; neural circuit; neuropsychiatric disorder; neurosurgery; next generation; novel; preservation; quantum; reconstruction; relating to nervous system; ultra high resolution; white matter

Abstract Diffusion MRI (dMRI) allows the in-vivo investigation of the neural architecture of the brain, which can be used to study normal brain development as well as potential pathologies in brain disorders. The spatial resolution of dMRI data sets is around 1.5mm isotropic voxels, which is good to study large and medium size white matter fiber bundles, but grossly insufficient to analyze small fiber pathways. Further, sensitivity to microstructural abnormalities in small cortical and subcortical gray matter structures is lost due to significant partial volume effects that exist at the boundary between different tissue types (e.g., gray-white, gray-CSF, etc.). Thus, a large number of neuropsychiatric disorders cannot be accurately probed at low spatial resolutions. Consequently, we propose several novel acquisition and reconstruction technologies for dMRI that will work synergistically to achieve an order-of-magnitude improvement in dMRI’s spatial resolution, to 600 micron isotropic voxel size. This will provide an extremely detailed in-vivo map of the brain, which will enable new discoveries in white matter connectivity as well as vastly improved sensitivity to small scale tissue abnormalities. This 10-fold improvement in resolution will be achieved in a clinically feasible scan time, on a 3T clinical scanner with high signal quality. The dMRI acquisition development will span i) SNR-efficient acquisition with advanced parallel imaging and specialized RF slab-encoding, ii) navigation-free multi-shot EPI that minimizes geometric distortions and blurring, and iii) motion-robust RF-encoding technique that allow ultra-high resolution dMRI with motion sensitivity exposure time-frame of 2s or less. These technologies will be developed in parallel with a synergistic constrained reconstruction that use phase modeling together with structure-preserving spatial and q- space smoothness constraints, to enable large accelerations while boosting SNR. To ensure scientific rigor, we will comprehensively validate our technology on an ex-vivo human brain along with several healthy volunteers using different quantification metrics. This leap in spatial resolution with acquisition done in a clinically feasible scan time will have a significant and lasting impact in many areas of neuroscience and neurosurgery. For the first time, it will allow accurate and detailed in-vivo investigation of important short cortical association fibers in the superficial white matter regions, as well as functionally critical cortical and sub-cortical gray matter areas. Such technology should also be game-changing to emerging large-scale studies of the brain where dMRI plays a crucial role, such as in the Human Connectome Project, the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development project, and the U.K. bio-bank project. The ultra-high resolution dMRI will also enhance our ability to understand microstructural abnormalities in neurodevelopmental disorders, and enable accurate delineation of the neural circuitry for positioning the electrode in deep brain stimulation and in image-guided surgery. Thus, we believe that the propose technology will provide a paradigm shift for studying the human brain.

抽象的 扩散 MRI (dMRI) 可以对大脑的神经结构进行体内研究，可用于 研究正常的大脑发育以及大脑疾病的潜在病理。 dMRI数据集在1.5mm左右各向同性体素，有利于研究大中型白质 纤维束，但严重不足以分析小纤维路径此外，对微观结构的敏感性。 小皮质和皮质下灰质结构的异常由于部分体积显着而丢失 存在于不同组织类型（例如灰白色、灰脑脊液等）之间边界的效应因此，很大。 许多神经精神疾病无法在低空间分辨率下准确探测。 经过测试，我们提出了几种可行的 dMRI 新型采集和重建技术 协同实现 dMRI 分辨率的数量级空间改进，达到 600 微米 各向同性体素大小将提供极其详细的大脑体内图，从而实现新的功能。 白质连接方面的发现以及对小规模组织异常的敏感性大大提高。 分辨率提高 10 倍将在 3T 临床扫描仪上在临床可行的扫描时间内实现 dMRI 采集开发将跨越 i) 具有先进功能的 SNR 高效采集。 并行成像和专门的 RF 板编码，ii) 免导航多镜头 EPI，可最大限度地减少几何尺寸 失真和模糊，以及 iii) 运动稳健的射频编码技术，允许超高分辨率 dMRI 2秒或更短的运动灵敏度曝光时间框架将与这些技术同时开发。 使用相位建模以及结构保留空间和 q- 的协同约束重建 空间平滑度约束，在提高信噪比的同时实现大加速度。为了确保科学严谨性，我们。 将与几名健康志愿者一起在离体人脑上全面验证我们的技术 使用不同的量化指标在临床上完成采集，实现了空间分辨率的飞跃。 可行的扫描时间将对神经科学的许多领域产生重大而持久的影响 它将首次允许对重要的短皮质进行准确和详细的体内研究。 浅层白质区域的关联纤维，以及功能关键的皮质和皮质下区域 这种技术也应该改变新兴的大规模大脑研究的游戏规则。 dMRI 发挥着至关重要的作用，例如在人类连接组计划、青少年大脑认知计划中 开发项目，以及英国生物库项目也将增强我们的能力。 了解神经发育障碍的微观结构异常，并能够准确描绘 用于在深部脑刺激和图像引导手术中定位电极的神经回路。 我们相信，所提出的技术将为研究人脑提供范式转变。