MRI

Efforts at UCSF Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging are underway to make MRI appointments safer, more predictable, and more comfortable for every patient. A new initiative led by UCSF's MR Safety Committee focuses on clear communication, thoughtful preparation, and consistent practices designed to improve the patient experience.

Xiaoxi Liu, PhD is postdoctoral scholar working to improve MRI sequence design and image reconstruction, with a strong emphasis on hyperpolarized carbon-13 MRI and proton hydrogen MRI. She created an open-source acquisition toolbox for these imaging modalities.

Andreas Rauschecker, MD, PhD, and Pierre Nedelec are first authors of “Neurocognitive and brain structure correlates of reading and television habits in early adolescence,” published in Scientific Reports, with senior author Leo Sugrue, MD, PhD. By analyzing brain scans (MRI) and cognitive tests from over 8,000 adolescents in the US, they investigated how reading and television habits are linked to brain structure and cognitive abilities.

Taylor Chung, MD, has been a leader in the hands-on pediatric cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) course offered by The Society for Pediatric Radiology for two decades.

Andreas Rauschecker, MD, PhD, describes the AI tools he has developed to diagnose and monitor neurological diseases and improve the MRI diagnostic accuracy of radiology trainees.

“UCSF takes MRI Safety very seriously. It is a priority,” says MRI Safety Officer and MRI Supervisor Christina L. Calvin. This MRI Safety Week, July 21-27, Calvin spotlights the three most important things patients need to know.

Susanne Mueller, MD, has developed a new method for imaging cortical layers of the brain, using MP2RAGE contrasts to follow the cortical myelination pattern within the gray matter.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), plays a pivotal role in healthcare, determining treatment paths and eligibility for procedures like hip or knee replacements. Yet, approximately 90% of the global population lacks access to this vital technology. The prospect of a more compact, affordable, and easily installable MRI machine raises an intriguing question: How many lives could be saved, and how much suffering could be alleviated with improved access to this transformative technology?

A decade ago, Thomas Link, MD, PhD, was senior author on a paper in J Bone Miner Res¹ that suggested that severe deficits in cortical bone quality are responsible for fragility fractures in postmenopausal diabetic women. Building on that work, our Bone Quality Research Lab has developed a technique to visualize intra-cortical vessels and assess the structural changes that can degrade bone strength.

On Wednesday March 14, the radiology team at Mount Zion Hospital celebrated the reopening of MRI Zone 3 room after a comprehensive space refresh.