Neuroimaging

University Of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The Imaging Core (Core A) .will be responsible for the acquisition, quality assurance, analysis, and storage of brain imaging data for Projects 1, which involves adolescent and young adult patients with mild to moderate TBI, and for Project 2, which involves an induced brain injury in a porcine model. Imaging for both patients and animals includes diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetization transfer imaging (MTI), and susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI). The Imaging Core is based in Houston, and is comprised of an interdisciplinary team with representatives from neuroradiology, neuropsychology, and MR physics who will facilitate organization, analysis, integration and interpretation of the brain imaging data for Project 1 and 2 investigators requiring this methodology to address their Aims and Hypotheses. Although the data for Project 1 will be acquired in Houston and the data for Project 2 will be acquired in Philadelphia, all raw imaging data will be transferred to the Imaging Core for subsequent processing and analysis. DTI analysis of the human and animal data will involve comparable regions of interest (ROIs) in cortical and subcortical white matter and will be performed using PRIDE software for fiber tracking as well as ROI analysis of fractional anisotropy. An additional voxel based analysis using SPM2 will be performed for patient data. Volumetric analysis for both human and animal data will be performed using Analyze software to examine whole brain white matter (WM), gray matter (GM), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volumes, ventricle-to-brain ratio (VBR), and total brain stem volumes. Additional analysis of the patient data will include exploratory ROIs including the frontal lobes, temporal lobes, and thalamus. SWI analysis for both human and animal data will be performed using ImagePro software, which will enable the number and volume of microhemorrhages throughout the brain not detectable on conventional imaging. MTI will act as a screening tool to identify asymmetries in MT ratio, a measure of alterations in the macromolecular environment within the brain, in both human and animal data. In addition, the MTI ROIs will be matched with both SWI and DTI ROIs to better understand the underlying pathophysiology. Quality assurance will be performed at both sites on a regular basis under the direction of Imaging Core personnel.