Leading the Way: Podcast Series on Training and Education, Episode 1.

In this episode of the Podcast Series on Training and Education, Pamela Schaefer, MD, joins host Monica Cheng, MD, to discuss incorporating education into radiology careers. Dr. Schaefer shares her journey, the role of leadership, and advice for aspiring educators.

Diffusion-Weighted Imaging Fluid-Attenuated Inversion Recovery Mismatch on Portable, Low-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging Among Acute Stroke Patients.

Objective: For stroke patients with unknown time of onset, mismatch between diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can guide thrombolytic intervention. However, access to MRI for hyperacute stroke is limited. Here, we sought to evaluate whether a portable, low-field (LF)-MRI scanner can identify DWI-FLAIR mismatch in acute ischemic stroke.

Metabolic Imaging of Acute Ischemic Stroke (PET, Hydrogen Spectroscopy, Oxygen Imaging, Sodium MRI, pH Imaging).

Acute stroke imaging plays a vital and time-sensitive role in therapeutic decision-making. Current clinical workflows widely use computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) techniques including CT and MR perfusion to estimate the volume of ischemic penumbra at risk for infarction without acute intervention. The use of imaging techniques aimed toward evaluating the metabolic derangements underlying a developing infarct may provide additional information for differentiating the penumbra from benign oligemia and infarct core.

Clinical Evaluation of a 2-Minute Ultrafast Brain MR Protocol for Evaluation of Acute Pathology in the Emergency and Inpatient Settings.

Background And Purpose: The use of MR imaging in emergency settings has been limited by availability, long scan times, and sensitivity to motion. This study assessed the diagnostic performance of an ultrafast brain MR imaging protocol for evaluation of acute intracranial pathology in the emergency department and inpatient settings.

Materials And Methods: Sixty-six adult patients who underwent brain MR imaging in the emergency department and inpatient settings were included in the study.

Increased task-relevant fMRI responsiveness in comatose cardiac arrest patients is associated with improved neurologic outcomes.

Early prediction of the recovery of consciousness in comatose cardiac arrest patients remains challenging. We prospectively studied task-relevant fMRI responses in 19 comatose cardiac arrest patients and five healthy controls to assess the fMRI's utility for neuroprognostication. Tasks involved instrumental music listening, forward and backward language listening, and motor imagery.

Brain imaging with portable low-field MRI.

The advent of portable, low-field MRI (LF-MRI) heralds new opportunities in neuroimaging. Low power requirements and transportability have enabled scanning outside the controlled environment of a conventional MRI suite, enhancing access to neuroimaging for indications that are not well suited to existing technologies. Maximizing the information extracted from the reduced signal-to-noise ratio of LF-MRI is crucial to developing clinically useful diagnostic images.

Optimized flow compensation for contrast-enhanced T1-weighted Wave-CAIPI 3D MPRAGE imaging of the brain.

Flow-related artifacts have been observed in highly accelerated T1-weighted contrast-enhanced wave-controlled aliasing in parallel imaging (CAIPI) magnetization-prepared rapid gradient-echo (MPRAGE) imaging and can lead to diagnostic uncertainty. We developed an optimized flow-mitigated Wave-CAIPI MPRAGE acquisition protocol to reduce these artifacts through testing in a custom-built flow phantom. In the phantom experiment, maximal flow artifact reduction was achieved with the combination of flow compensation gradients and radial reordered k-space acquisition and was included in the optimized sequence.

Ischemic Infarction in Young Adults.

Ischemic strokes in young adults are increasing in incidence and have emerged as a public health issue. The radiological features are not only diagnostic in identifying ischemic infarctions but also provide important clues in the investigation of the underlying causes or in the identification of risk factors. According to the different imaging patterns associated with ischemic stroke in young adults, the causes can be classified into 5 categories: cardioembolism, large vessel vasculopathy, small vessel vasculopathy, toxic-metabolic, and hypercoagulable disorders.

Incorporating algorithmic uncertainty into a clinical machine deep learning algorithm for urgent head CTs.

Machine learning (ML) algorithms to detect critical findings on head CTs may expedite patient management. Most ML algorithms for diagnostic imaging analysis utilize dichotomous classifications to determine whether a specific abnormality is present. However, imaging findings may be indeterminate, and algorithmic inferences may have substantial uncertainty.

Quantitative Brain Morphometry of Portable Low-Field-Strength MRI Using Super-Resolution Machine Learning.

Background Portable, low-field-strength (0.064-T) MRI has the potential to transform neuroimaging but is limited by low spatial resolution and low signal-to-noise ratio. Purpose To implement a machine learning super-resolution algorithm that synthesizes higher spatial resolution images (1-mm isotropic) from lower resolution T1-weighted and T2-weighted portable brain MRI scans, making them amenable to automated quantitative morphometry.

Clinical validation of Wave-CAIPI susceptibility-weighted imaging for routine brain MRI at 1.5 T.

Objectives: Wave-CAIPI (Controlled Aliasing in Parallel Imaging) enables dramatic reduction in acquisition time of 3D MRI sequences such as 3D susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) but has not been clinically evaluated at 1.5 T. We sought to compare highly accelerated Wave-CAIPI SWI (Wave-SWI) with two alternative standard sequences, conventional three-dimensional SWI and two-dimensional T2*-weighted Gradient-Echo (T2*w-GRE), in patients undergoing routine brain MRI at 1.

Severe cerebral edema in substance-related cardiac arrest patients.

Background: Studies of neurologic outcomes have found conflicting results regarding differences between patients with substance-related cardiac arrests (SRCA) and non-SRCA. We investigate the effects of SRCA on severe cerebral edema development, a neuroimaging intermediate endpoint for neurologic injury.

Methods: 327 out-of-hospital comatose cardiac arrest patients were retrospectively analyzed.

Optimization of magnetization transfer contrast for EPI FLAIR brain imaging.

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of magnetization transfer (MT) on brain tissue contrast in turbo-spin-echo (TSE) and EPI fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) images, and to optimize an MT-prepared EPI FLAIR pulse sequence to match the tissue contrast of a clinical reference TSE FLAIR protocol.

Methods: Five healthy volunteers underwent 3T brain MRI, including single slice TSE FLAIR, multi-slice TSE FLAIR, EPI FLAIR without MT-preparation, and MT-prepared EPI FLAIR with variations of the MT-preparation parameters, including number of preparation pulses, pulse amplitude, and resonance offset. Automated co-registration and gray matter (GM) versus white matter (WM) segmentation was performed using a T1-MPRAGE acquisition, and the GM versus WM signal intensity ratio (contrast ratio) was calculated for each FLAIR acquisition.

Disorders of Consciousness Associated With COVID-19: A Prospective Multimodal Study of Recovery and Brain Connectivity.

Background And Objectives: In patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), disorders of consciousness (DoC) have emerged as a serious complication. The prognosis and pathophysiology of COVID-DoC remain unclear, complicating decisions about continuing life-sustaining treatment. We describe the natural history of COVID-DoC and investigate its associated brain connectivity profile.

Clinical utility of arterial spin labeling perfusion images in the emergency department for the work-up of stroke-like symptoms.

Purpose: To assess the utility of ASL in evaluating patients presenting to the ED with stroke-like symptoms.

Methods: ASL and DWI images from 526 consecutive patients presenting to the ED with acute stroke symptoms were retrospectively reviewed. DWI images were evaluated for volume of restricted diffusion using ABC/2.