Overview:

Challenges and experience of setting up a 7T service as a new user
Pip Bridgen, (PgCert)
Our 7T service is based within an inner-city London hospital, which allows us to offer a clinically focused service alongside research work in an ever-developing field. This presentation is an overview of the challenges we experienced whilst setting up a new 7T service, and the ways in which we overcame these. We focus on some of the processes and procedures implemented to achieve this and set out our plans going forward.

Team up at 7T
Prof. Dr. Oliver Speck
Establishing and running a 7T facility can be challenging. Once the operation is established, how can efforts between multiple centers be combined and a higher impact be generated? A few 7T research networks, including GUFI, UK7T and EUFIND, have addressed these questions and demonstrated added value in combined high field research efforts.

Overview:

ISMRM goes Hybrid!
Steven P. Sourbron, Ph.D.
After 2 years of virtual ISMRM annual meetings, we are now planning the first ever hybrid annual meeting of the ISMRM. While many of the details are still being worked out, we are committed to provide an interactive hybrid format. Those travelling to London will experience an ISMRM meeting much like in pre-pandemic times, with all the benefits of in-person interaction but with an additional option to interact with online attendees. Online attendees will be able to watch live streams of all sessions in London, and recordings will be available for those in more distant time zones, with increased interactivity than in previous online annual meetings. Importantly, online attendees will also be able to present their work to attendees in London and online. In this talk I will update on the current ideas for the meeting, not only on format but also on content including also the educational program and other special sessions under development.

MR education during the ISMRM annual meeting in 2022: What to expect
Nivedita Agarwal, MD
The ISMRM annual meeting in London will offer a total of 218 hours of education distributed from Saturday to Thursday designed by the AMPC. This also includes 28 hours of tutorials organised by eight different education tracks (Neuro, Body, Cross-Organ, MSK, Image acquisition, contrast mechanisms, Physics & Engineering and Transferable Skills). All education is planned onsite and all speakers have been requested to be onsite to allow for maximum interactivity between them and the participants. We also have planned a three day meeting within a meeting or a Special focus meeting (SFM) dedicated to cardiovascular MR research. This is specially designed for attendees (such as clinicians) who may not have time to attend a six-day meeting but want to get the most of the cutting-edge technologies centered around CMR.

First Hybrid SMRT (just renamed to ISMRT!) Annual Meeting
Rhys Slough, MSc.
Similar to ISMRM annual meeting, SMRT (renamed to ISMRT) annual meeting will go hybrid as well! The annual meeting will have a similar schedule as the meetings in pre-pandemic time with an interesting poster session on Friday afternoon, accredited theme-based education sessions for MR radiographers/technologists on both Saturday and Sunday, and accredited ISMRM sessions and ISMRM-ISMRT joint forum on Monday. We will cover different hot topics in the meeting including AI, high and low-field imaging and advanced practices in MR. We will continue the great Master Class tradition we started in the past two years. Attendees traveling to London will be able to have in-person interaction with gorgeous speakers and other attendees (both in-person and online). Attendees online will be able to view live presentations and join the Q & A and discussions virtually. We look forward to seeing you!

2022 ISMRT Annual Meeting will be fun!
Huijun ‘Vicky’ Liao, MR-RT
2022 ISMRT Annual Meeting encourages interaction/discussion since it will be our first chance to see each other in-person after two years! Besides the hot topics mentioned by Rhys, we plan to have Q&A and panel/group discussions in the safety and clinical sessions where both in-person and online attendees can share their opinions and questions. We also encourage you to join our poster-tour on Friday to interact with our MR radiographer/technologist poster presenters and other MR colleagues around the world. There also will be Grab-n-Go Lunch served for ISMRT Business Meeting on Saturday which will give the most updated status of ISMRT and the Abstract/Proffered Papers Awards on Sunday. We will also be planning on our evening welcoming party which has been a tradition in the pre-pandemic times!

Overview:
MRI safety in a Multidisciplinary OR environment – Janice Fairhurst, R.T. (R) MR
The MRI Safety challenges are inherent in a Multi-Modality Image Guided Operation Room. This talk will describe the potential hazards that exist in a multimodality imaging suite as it relates specifically to MRI safety and identify the key safety strategies that are used within the multidisciplinary iMRI environment to ensure safety.

Transcranial MR-guided Focused Ultrasound for Essential Tremor – Rachelle Bitton, Ph.D.
MR guided Focused ultrasound is a noninvasive, therapeutic technology with the potential to improve the quality of life and decrease the cost of care for patients with essential tremor. This novel technology focuses multiple beams of ultrasound energy precisely and accurately on targets deep in the brain without damaging surrounding normal tissue. MR imaging is used for treatment planning and inter-procedural monitoring, providing images to pinpoint the area to treat and real time MR thermometry to monitor treatment progress. In this talk we explore the mechanism behind the technology, explore treatment protocols, show 3 year follow up results in patients, and talk about next steps for the technology.

Cardiac interventional MRI: current status and remaining technical challenges – Olivier Jaubert, Ph.D.
This talk will give a brief overview of the cardiovascular applications of interventional MRI (iMRI). We will give a description of the clinical MRI scans routinely performed at our institution in pulmonary hypertension patients. Finally we will give some future directions being investigated to resolve the remaining challenges for better translation of cardiovascular iMRI in clinical practice.

Initial experience with the clinical implementation of quantitative MRI biomarkers in a 1.5T MR-Linac – Ergys Subashi, Ph.D.
MR-guided systems, particularly the integrated MR-linac, provide a novel platform for the delivery of precision radiotherapy and may enable improvements in therapeutic response by increasing dose to the target while sparing organs at risk. The clinical implementation of these systems necessitates a review of current commissioning and quality assurance (QA) methods and, if needed, revisions to address differences with conventional MRI and radiotherapy machines. Integrated MR-linacs present with challenges that are not encountered when each component is considered separately. In this talk we will discuss our initial experience with the clinical implementation of quantitative MRI biomarkers in a 1.5T MR-Linac.

Overview:

Dr. Stefan Bluml will describe MRS acquisition and technical aspects in a clinical environment, metabolic maturation from birth to adolescence, birth asphyxia and localized temperature measurement.

Dr. Alex Lin will present MRS diagnosis of metabolic disorders and anoxia in the ER, traumatic brain injury, psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.

Objectives:

• Understand the requirements for the use of MRS in a clinical environment;
• Appreciate the evolving metabolic features of the brain and the need for standardized acquisition methods and appropriate control data;
• Recognize main features of neonatal hypoxic/ischemic brain injury;
• Understand the usefulness of MRS for measuring regional brain temperatures in newborns undergoing therapeutic hypothermia treatment;
• Learn how MRS can be used to impact patient management;
• Compare and contrast the spectroscopic changes that occur from acute to chronic and severe to subconcussive brain injury;
• Describe the metabolic changes that occur in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression; and
• Understand how spectroscopy can be used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment.

Overview:

Presentation 1: Dementia Platform UK PET-MR Harmonisation Study
In the UK a network of 8 PET-MR scanners has been set up for dementia scanning, 3 Siemens mMR and 5 GE Signa scanners. However for future clinical trials, it is important to reduce variability of measurements through the harmonisation of scanning protocols, and to characterise the repeatability and reproducibility of these measurements. Following the design of harmonised protocols, a travelling volunteer test-retest study is currently being conducted using the amyloid radiotracers, [18F]flutemetamol and [18F]florbetaben. The presentation will describe the study design, the many challenges that had to be met, and hopefully some preliminary results from the [18F]flutemetamol arm of the study which finished on the 26th July 2021.

Presentation 2: Harmonization of PET in simultaneous PET/MR and Path to Qualification
The talk will present in one part an approach and its results to perform Harmonization of PET in simultaneous PET/MR in which we use NEMA phantom data acquired in a standard and controlled manner at two sites equipped with a Siemens mMR and a GE Signa PET/MR scanner. PET data were reconstructed by systematically varying image reconstruction parameters of number of iteration and filtration level and the best agreement between the reconstruction were found by evaluating the root mean square difference (RMSD) in contrast recovery coefficients (CRC). In a second part of the talk, an approach will be presented as a possible path to site qualifications of PET/MR scanners for multicenter brain imaging studies without the use of phantom to validate the accuracy of attenuation correction.

Overview:

In the presentation of ‘Understanding MRI safety: Physics, Physiology and Practice’, the interaction between the physical principles of the three types of magnetic fields in the MRI environment, viz., the static magnetic field, time-varying spatial field gradient, and radio-frequency magnetic fields, and their interactions with the biologic tissue will be highlighted. This understanding can guide the development of policies and procedures that can help create a safe MR environment for patients, staff, and support personnel. From this presentation, the audience will understand the characteristics of the three main magnetic fields in the MR environment and a framework for creating MRI safe policies and procedures.

The presentation of ‘Active Implant MRI Safety’ will provide a review of the process to clear active implants, with a focus on pacemakers. The audience will have an understanding of how to analyze the vendor documentation to identify what is relevant for the technologist to ensure that examinations are performed safely.

Overview:
Every year, the ISMRM and SMRT have a scientific meeting which is almost certain to metamorphize into a varied format of “face to face” blended with “virtual” forms of address, presentation, and moderation. The techniques of presenting are strongly aligned with techniques of education and teaching, and these techniques are best developed with both meeting formats in mind, with a foundation in quality educational material and delivery. A skilled educator and presenter is ideal to give members a lecture on goals to be aimed for and hopefully achieved during their time on the real or virtual stage. Similarly, moderating in this mixed format environment is a skill to be used to guide the meeting, and extract the most information from the presentation and presenters. Moderating in its own way, can go someway towards making or breaking a meeting.

A large number of ISMRM and SMRT members are presenting at the upcoming meeting, and another significant member cohort will be moderating the sessions during this meeting. This virtual meeting will come 3-4 weeks before the ISMRM/SMRT annual meeting and the timing of this virtual meeting would be perfect to address this much needed skillset.