ISMRM SCIENTIFIC WORKSHOP ~ 19-22 February 2012
 

Fat-Water Separation: Insights, Applications & Progress in MRI
 Long Beach, CA, USA
 

OVERVIEW
This will be the first ISMRM-sponsored workshop on fat-water MRI. Research in diseases that involve abnormal fat accumulation in organs, muscles, and various body depots has increased significantly in recent years, motivated partly by the rising prevalence of obesity worldwide. Over the last decade, algorithms that robustly suppress fat and those designed to accurately separate fat and water based on chemical-shift MRI have been developed, as interest in fat-water separation methods grows significantly.

The purpose of this workshop is to bring together internationally-recognized clinicians and researchers to review insights, progress, and findings in fat suppression and fat-water MRI over the past 30 years. It will cover the latest discoveries in qualitative fat-water separation and quantitative fat methodologies. Attendees will collectively identify unsolved challenges and applications that need to be further addressed, as well as discuss appropriate validation techniques, implementation considerations, and the consistent use and reporting of methodology and fat metrics in literature. The workshop will integrate educational presentations encompassing a wide array of technical and clinical topics. A poster session will promote interaction amongst young and established investigators. Moderated sessions will comprehensively cover mathematical theory, performance limits, and data reconstruction algorithms of fat-water imaging, as well as highlight new diagnostic applications and future research opportunities.
 

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this workshop, participants should be able to:
  • Describe the underlying principles of MR spectroscopy, fat suppression and chemical-shift fat-water methods in MRI;
  • Recognize the multitude of data reconstruction challenges associated with chemical-shift fat-water MRI;
  • List the confounding factors that need to be addressed in fat-fraction quantification to ensure accuracy and precision;
  • Articulate and summarize the advantages and implications of fat-water imaging techniques;
  • Explain the diagnostic utility of fat-water MRI and identify potential applications of fat-water separation and imaging techniques in clinical and research settings;
  • Appraise and evaluate the capabilities of current state-of-the-art fat-water MRI methodologies; and
  • Select and design the appropriate technique and protocol based on desired study outcomes.
 

AUDIENCE DESCRIPTION
The workshop is designed for established researchers and clinicians as well as students, postdoctoral fellows, and resident trainees. The audience will include both MRI physicists and engineers who are actively developing and improving fat-water methodologies, as well as physicians and basic science researchers who already utilize or are looking to adopt the techniques to investigate scientific and health-related questions. Attendees may come from academia or industry.

The program content has been tailored to provide an overview of the underlying principles of fat-water MRI with the assumption that members of the audience have basic knowledge and understanding of MRI physics and terminology.