Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging Phantoms

PROJECT SUMMARYThe overall goal of this Phase I proposal is to designdevelop and test the feasibility of advanced quantitative magnetic resonance imagingMRIphantoms that mimic the simultaneous presence of fatiron and fibrosisFatiron and fibrosis are three principal histological coexisting features of many important disease statesPhantoms are highly controlled test objects that accurately reflect tissue characteristics in both normal and pathological tissuesEmerging quantitative MRI methods introduced in the pastyears are increasingly used for non invasive diagnosisstaging and treatment monitoring in both clinical care and clinical trialsHoweverthe lack of viable MRI phantoms that mimic the combination of fatiron and fibrosis experienced in disease states is a major barrier to the development of new quantitative MRI biomarkersas well as effective quality assurance in clinical environmentsSuch phantoms are also needed for quality assurancecalibration and qualification of MRI scanners for use in multicenter drug development trialsIn this proposalwe will develop and optimize novel quantitative MRI phantoms for the validation and quality assurance of MRI techniques to assess fatiron and fibrosis in tissueIn this collaborative project between CalimetrixLLCand the University of Wisconsin Madisonwe will designoptimize and validate the formulation of the individual vials comprising the phantomAimas well as the phantom housingAimand we will validate the complete phantom using established techniques as well as novel rapid MRI methods used for multiple emerging quantitative applicationsAimSuccessful designdevelopment and validation of advanced phantoms that accurately reflect tissue characteristics are a critical step in the development and dissemination of quantitative imaging biomarkerswhich will have major impact by reducing costimproving safetyand improving the early diagnosis and interventionaffecting the health of millions of Americans PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE STATEMENTThe broadlong term objective of our research is to improve the health of millions of Americans who suffer from chronic diseases such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease or cardiomyopathyNew magnetic resonance imaging methods are able to quantify important disease featuresproviding non invasive ways to evaluate the presence and severity of a variety of diseasesThe development and implementation of such quantitative imaging methods requires highly controlled and reliable test objectsorphantomsthat accurately mimic the presence of diseasethis proposal aims to develop and test the feasibility of a novel MRI phantom