ISMRM21 - Five Shades of Gray: Cutting-Edge & Clinically Relevant Diffusion MRI Techniques in Gray Matter

Five Shades of Gray: Cutting-Edge & Clinically Relevant Diffusion MRI Techniques in Gray Matter

Member-Initiated Symposium

Monday, 17 May 2021

Concurrent 6

16:00 - 18:00

Moderators: Thijs Dhollander & Ileana Jelescu

Session Number: MIS-08

Parent Session: Five Shades of Gray: Cutting-Edge & Clinically Relevant Diffusion MRI Techniques in Gray Matter

Session Number:MIS-08

Organizers
Flavio Dell'acqua, Els Fieremans, Ileana Jelescu

Overview
This Symposium was proposed by the Diffusion study group. While white matter has been widely studied by the diffusion MRI community over the past 20 years, attention is now shifting towards gray matter, which is more challenging but also highly rewarding since it is central to numerous developmental and pathological processes. The aim of this symposium is twofold. The first is to cover the status of current research on the topic of human gray matter characterization using diffusion MRI. The second is to identify the most promising and valuable research leads for the near future, both in terms of clinical relevance and technical feasibility. The proposed topic is not covered by any of the Educational Sessions at the 2021 Annual meeting and is designed to provide the audience with a broader vision than any potential scientific session. The symposium proposal is articulated around 5 talks (each 15 mins. + 4 min. Q/A). The first talk will give a clinician’s perspective on gray matter cytoarchitecture and on unmet clinical needs. The other four talks will cover broad directions of current research that tackle the issue from complementary approaches: achieving high spatial resolution in a clinically acceptable time, overcoming incoherent fiber orientations, proposing suitable signal and biophysical models, and accounting for membrane permeability. The session will start with a 5-minute introduction by the organizers explaining the timeliness and relevance of the topic and will end with 20 minutes of panel discussion aiming to foster dialogue.

Target Audience
Clinicians, physicists/image processing experts in diffusion MRI, MR vendors, and MR technologists/radiographers.

Educational Objectives
As a result of attending this course, participants should be able to:
Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to: - Identify unmet needs in terms of non-invasive gray matter characterization from a clinician’s perspective; - Explain state-of-the-art acquisition and processing methods for diffusion MRI in gray matter; and - Identify the most promising areas of future research in terms of clinical relevance and technical feasibility.

			Gray Matter Cytoarchitecture: What Are We Looking at & What Are We Looking For? Timothy Shepherd New York University School of Medicine
			Acquisitions Tailored for Gray Matter: Sub-mm Resolution Techniques for Sub-mm Structures Congyu Liao Massachusetts General Hospital
			Overcoming Messy Neurites: Microscopic Anisotropy & Diffusion Tensor Encoding Techniques Chantal Tax Cardiff University
			Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging & Emerging Biophysical Models in Gray Matter Hao Huang University of Pennsylvania
			Water Exchange in Gray Matter: More Challenges & Opportunities for Diffusion MRI Ruiliang Bai Zhejiang University