Magnetic Resonance Elastography

Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) is a technique that images propagating mechanical waves using MRI. This is performed by synchronizing motion-sensitive MR imaging sequences with the application of acoustic waves in the 100 to 1000 Hz range. Work in this area involves development of the basic sequences, study of the appropriate means for applying the waves, and the interpretation of the data, including conversion into estimates of elastic moduli.

The clinical interest in elastography arises from the importance of palpation in diagnosis. Palpation assesses the stiffness of a region with respect to surrounding tissue, and is the basis for clinical presentation of many breast, thyroid, prostate and abdominal pathologies. MRE provides quantitative stiffness information, which may prove even more useful in diagnosing certain types of diseases. Our current research efforts include tissue characterization, breast, prostate, muscle and brain projects. The tissue characterization effort is designed to determine the range of possible applications of MRE by determining the stiffness of healthy tissues. The breast project is an effort to explore the potential of MRE to detect breast cancer. The prostate project uses excised prostate specimens to explore the potential contribution of MRE for the detection of prostate cancer. The muscle project has been able to demonstrate that MRE can provide more information than standard MRI, because stiffness images can differentiate between an activated muscle and a relaxed one.