Congratulations to Assistant Professor Diego Hernando, PhD for receiving a grant for his proposal “Diffusion MRI of the Body” for $1,039,350 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant will start on 08/15/2021 for a three-year term. While Dr. Hernando is serving as Primary Investigator, the following UW faculty are serving as Co-Investigators: Ali Pirasteh, MD; Alejandro Roldan-Alzate, PhD; and Nataliya Uboha, MD, PhD (Hematology/Oncology).
“The overall goal of this research is to develop and validate a new method for ‘diffusion’ magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with application to the abdomen. Diffusion MRI has enormous potential for the diagnosis and treatment monitoring of patients with cancer and various other diseases, however, diffusion MRI of the abdomen is difficult because of heart and breathing motion, image distortions, and other technical challenges. The proposed diffusion MRI method will address these challenges in order to enable reliable imaging of cancer and other applications,” says Diego Hernando.
The following publications contributed to this project being funded:
Zhang Y, Wells SA, Hernando D. Stimulated echo based mapping (STEM) of T1 , T2 , and apparent diffusion coefficient: validation and protocol optimization. Magn Reson Med. 2019 Jan;81(1):187-181.
Zhang Y, Holmes J, Rabanillo I, Guidon A, Wells S, Hernando D. Quantitative diffusion MRI using reduced field-of-view and multi-shot acquisition techniques: Validation in phantoms and prostate imaging. Magn Reson Imaging. 2018 Sep;51:173-181.
Pena-Nogales O, Zhang Y, Wang X, de Luis-Garcia R, Aja-Fernandez S, Holmes JH, Hernando D. Optimized Diffusion-Weighting Gradient Waveform Design (ODGD) formulation for motion compensation and concomitant gradient nulling. Magn Reson Med. 2019 Feb;81(2):989-1003.
Zhang Y, Pena-Nogales O, Holmes JH, Hernando D. Motion-Robust and Blood-Suppressed M1-Optimized Diffusion MR Imaging of the Liver. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. 2019 Jul;82(1):302-311.
Zhang Y, Wells SA, Triche BL, Kelcz F, Hernando D. Stimulated-echo diffusion-weighted imaging with moderate b values for the detection of prostate cancer. Eur Radiol. 2020 Jun;30(6):3236-3244.
Geng R, Zhang Y, Starekova J, Rutkowski DR, Estkowski L, Roldán-Alzate A, Hernando D. Characterization and Correction of Cardiovascular Motion Artifacts in Diffusion-Weighted Imaging of the Pancreas. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2021;86:1956–1969.
Geng R, Zhang Y, Muhler M, Starekova J, Hernando D. Liver Diffusion MRI using Optimized Gradient Waveforms, Free-Breathing Acquisitions, and Motion-Corrected Averaging: Validation in Patients. International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Annual Meeting. (Virtual meeting). August 10-14, 2020.
Simchick G, Geng R, Zhang Y, Hernando D. b-M1-Optimized Waveforms for Improved Stability of Quantitative Intravoxel Incoherent Motion DWI. International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Annual Meeting– Virtual. May 15-20, 2021.
Zhang Y, Guidon A, Zhao X, Wu G, Li H, Geng R, Hernando D. Motion-Robust, High-SNR Diffusion MRI of the Liver using Optimized Gradient Waveforms and Deep Learning Reconstruction. International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Annual Meeting- Virtual. May 15-20, 2021.