October 7, 2022 Despite the ongoing challenges of COVID on the CNS MRI Facility, cutting edge research continued throughout the year. At the CNS MRI Facility, our primary focus is on the brain and spinal cord but our 3T Prisma Fit is fully capable of whole body scanning and research and we have a wide variety of coils and sequences to support such endeavors. As one example. Dr. Allen Champagne (MD, PhD and recent graduate of the CNS) recently conducted a study of multiband diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in the knee.Using many of the same techniques as we would use to study the white matter tracts of the brain, Allen used high-resolution DTI to reconstruct the anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL) of both knees and assess their structural integrity. We used our flexible body coil and spine coil to image the knee and vacuum-sealed positioning bags for stabilization. The goal of this research was to find reference biomarkers for ACL integrity that could be used to assess post-operative recovery after ACL reconstruction surgery. Allen was able to demonstrate that DTI could indeed supplement current clinical care in this area, potentially improving the return to normal activity for these patients. Sagittal views of the knee highlighting the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) computed using probabilistic tractography. Regions of interest were defined (green) and the resulting tractography reconstruction of the ACL is displayed in yellow-red.Expanding our research opportunities to orthopedics was a fascinating and exciting project. The CNS MR Facility was able to support this research through our Pilot Time Competition, which provided a reduced scanning rate to promote the collection of pilot data. Watch our social media and website this year for the announcement of the next round of the competition. If you have an interesting research question that MRI could help answer, this is an excellent opportunity to explore MR research at a much reduced cost
