Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Pulsatile Brain Motion and its Applications
Date
Heart–brain interactions, including cardiac-induced brain pulsatility, are increasingly recognized as critical components of brain homeostasis and function. These pulsatile dynamics arise from the transmission of cardiac pressure and flow through the cerebral vasculature and are influenced by tissue mechanical properties, vascular compliance, and cerebrovascular hemodynamics. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a noninvasive and nonionizing modality, enables acquisition of high-contrast structural and functional images at macroscopic resolution. Although several MRI techniques have been developed to capture brain pulsations, they are predominantly phase-based approaches that require specialized acquisition schemes and are not routinely used in clinical imaging.
In this talk, I present a new framework for extracting and quantifying cardiac-induced brain motion from standard magnitude cine MRI data. I first introduce Amplified Magnetic Resonance Imaging (aMRI), a novel algorithm designed to reveal subtle pulsatile brain motion from conventional MRI acquisitions. Building on this approach, I develop quantitative amplified MRI (q-aMRI), which extends aMRI to enable quantification of sub-voxel cardiac-induced displacement fields in physical units. Using q-aMRI, I demonstrate that novel imaging biomarkers can be derived from these displacement fields, providing insight into how cardiac-induced brain motion evolves across the lifespan and how abnormal motion patterns are associated with neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia.
4721 America/Los_Angeles publicType
Time Duration
Location
Notes
Passcode: 544914
Heart–brain interactions, including cardiac-induced brain pulsatility, are increasingly recognized as critical components of brain homeostasis and function. These pulsatile dynamics arise from the transmission of cardiac pressure and flow through the cerebral vasculature and are influenced by tissue mechanical properties, vascular compliance, and cerebrovascular hemodynamics. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a noninvasive and nonionizing modality, enables acquisition of high-contrast structural and functional images at macroscopic resolution. Although several MRI techniques have been developed to capture brain pulsations, they are predominantly phase-based approaches that require specialized acquisition schemes and are not routinely used in clinical imaging.
In this talk, I present a new framework for extracting and quantifying cardiac-induced brain motion from standard magnitude cine MRI data. I first introduce Amplified Magnetic Resonance Imaging (aMRI), a novel algorithm designed to reveal subtle pulsatile brain motion from conventional MRI acquisitions. Building on this approach, I develop quantitative amplified MRI (q-aMRI), which extends aMRI to enable quantification of sub-voxel cardiac-induced displacement fields in physical units. Using q-aMRI, I demonstrate that novel imaging biomarkers can be derived from these displacement fields, providing insight into how cardiac-induced brain motion evolves across the lifespan and how abnormal motion patterns are associated with neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia.
Speakers
Itamar Terem recently completed his PhD in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, where he was supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. His work centers on advancing Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) through new computational and acquisition methodologies to characterize pulsatile brain dynamics. His research explores how cardiac-driven tissue motion and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow reflect underlying brain biomechanics and clearance mechanisms, with the goal of developing novel biomarkers for aging and neurological disease.