MR Spectroscopy in Clinical Practice
Alberto Bizzi, Petra Huppi, Organizers

Saturday, 6 May, 08:30 - 18:00

 

Overview:
This one-day course is a new edition of the successful 2005 course. It will briefly review the basics of MRS, then illustrate in depth the basics of MRS data acquisition, post-processing, biochemical interpretation and quality assurance. Options and strategies for semiquantitative and absolute quantitation will be discussed. The potential of 31P and 13C MRS will be illustrated. The main clinical applications of H-MRS will be reviewed by clinicians and MR spectroscopists who routinely apply MRS in the work-up of patients.

Educational Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:
• Describe the rationale of performing clinical MR spectroscopy;
• Explain the fundamental steps involved in performing and evaluating an MRS examination;
• Describe quantitative methods and their limitations;
• Recognize artifacts and pitfalls of clinical MRS;
• List diagnostic and patient management situations in which there is a clinically significant justification for a MRS examination;
• Describe recent clinical uses of in vivo MRS in pediatrics, oncology, neurology and psychiatry; and
• Design and implement an appropriate MRS protocol for a clinical or research study.

Audience Description:
This course is designed for students in electrical engineering/biomedical engineering, physics who are interested in learning about MRS applications; scientists who are interested in reviewing the MRS applications and learning the state-of-the-art methodology for clinical applications; and clinicians/MDs who are interested in learning MRS applications and establishing a link between MRS and clinical questions. Anyone wishing to understand clinical applications and related problems will find this course worthwhile; it will be appropriate to both new entrants and current users.

  Introduction and Methodology    
08:30 Basics of MR Spectroscopy for the Practicing Clinician Jeffrey R. Alger, Ph.D.
09:00 1D, 2D and 3D Localization Techniques and Shimming Markus von Kienlin, Ph.D.
09:30 Data Processing and Interpretation Thomas Ernst, Ph.D.
10:00 Break - Meet the Teachers    
     
10:30 1D and 2D Quantification Methods Mary A. McLean, Ph.D.
11:00 Quality Assurance and Artifacts Roland Kreis, Ph.D.
11:30 Clinical Potential of C- and P-MRS Stefan Bluml, Ph.D.
12:00 Break    
12:00 - 12:15 - Meet the Teachers    
     
Clinical Applications in Pediatrics    
13:00 MRS in Congenital Metabolic Disorders Kim Cecil, M.D.
13:30 MRS in Pediatric Tumors Soonmee Cha, M.D.
14:00 MRS in Perinatal Asphyxia Daniel B. Vigneron, Ph.D.
14:30 MRS, MRI & fMRI in Epilepsy Surgery Francois Lazeyras, Ph.D.
15:00 Break - Meet the Teachers     
     
Clinical Applications in Neuroradiology    
15:15 MRS in Therapy Planning and Follow-up of Adult Brain Tumors Alberto Bizzi, M.D.
15:45 MRS in Stroke, MS and Infectious Diseases Peter B. Barker, D.Phil.
16:15 MRS in Neurodegenerative Diseases Adam D. Waldman, M.D., Ph.D.
     
Other Clinical Applications    
16:45 MRS in Psychiatric Diseases Perry F.Renshaw, M.D., Ph.D.
17:05 P31-MRS of Muscle Diseases Patrick J. Cozzone, Ph.D.
17:25 MRS of Prostate Diseases Rao P. Gullapalli, Ph.D.
17:45 - 18:00 - Meet the Teachers