Overview
 

Scientists and clinicians around the globe use magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to investigate basic and clinical questions about neurochemistry in humans and in animals.  Measurements of regional concentrations of N-acetyl aspartate, GABA, glutamate, high energy phosphates, and other neurochemicals are becoming rapidly available for use in clinical trials.  New approaches such as ¹³C-MRS are used to probe basic mechanisms of neuronal function and neuropsychiatric disorders.  This workshop is intended both as a forum for methodological education on MRS and for the exchange of ideas about using MRS in clinical practice and basic research.

Key outcomes of this workshop will be:

1. Identification of optimal strategies for MRS acquisition, analysis, and quality control for applications in a patient environment.

2. Identification and description of neurochemical features of neuropsychiatric disorders that are detectable with MRS and may respond to the progression and treatment of diseases.

3. Practical methodological education for users of this technology, as provided by experts in various techniques of data acquisition and analysis.

This workshop is designed for physicians and psychologists who are specializing in psychiatry, neurology, or neurosurgery.  It will also be of significant value to basic scientists who have modest experience of human brain spectroscopy.  They may be faculty, fellows, residents, or other post-doctoral trainees with an interest in brain imaging in neurological and psychiatric diseases, many with a goal of obtaining quantitative measure to relate to clinical symptoms.

The level of involvement with MRS of most attendees will vary from only a strong interest in future use of the techniques to several years of collaborative applications of MRS to neuropsychiatric disorders; a few clinical attendees will have 10-20 years of experience.

Some registrants currently carry out research on a broad range of neuropsychiatric diseases.  Many routinely carry out clinical trials of drugs and other types of treatment, mechanistic studies of disease and treatment, or already engage in collaborative projects with electroencephalograms (EEG), radiotracer imaging, structural MRI, and functional MRI.
 

Upon completion of this workshop participants should be able to:

• Describe the concentrations and types of neurochemicals whose measurements are feasible at different field strengths, and particularly on the equipment at their home institutions.

• Identify the key neurochemicals from their locations and line shapes in proton spectra from brain.

• Contrast the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to spectroscopic imaging and single voxel spectroscopy.

• Predict the volumes and acquisition times required for a given measurement sensitivity.

• Explain the procedural and equipment procedures necessary for ¹³C MRS studies.

• Articulate the general equipment requirements for the useful measurement of key neurochemicals seen in spectra of different nuclei.

• Describe the procedures necessary to ensure consistent quality within the laboratory and between different measurement sites.

• Evaluate the technical aspects of grants and manuscripts that use MRS as a source of clinical data, including MRS acquisition and processing.