Magnetic Resonance Imaging/Spectroscopy This component of the Tumor Imaging Core provides UMCCC members access to equipment and expertise to conduct MRI/S studies of neoplasms in humans and in animal models. Tumor imaging/spectroscopic procedures in use for oncologic applications within the Core include: mass characterization via routine MRI contrasts/properties; serial tumor volume measurement; quantification of water diffusion properties of intracranial tumors; dynamics of contrast uptake in tumors for perfusion/vascularity/permeability assessment; spatially-located proton spectroscopy of intracranial tumors; and multi-nuclear NMR. MRI/S of oncologic studies on humans are performed on a one of three 1.5Tesla state-of-the-art units capable of single-shot imaging; two units are equipped with proton-spectroscopy options; four clinical 3D workstations and six additional Unix workstations in MRI for custom offline processing. Animal MRI/S studies are performed on2Tesla/18cm bore and 7Tesla/11cm bore units; and additional 9.4Tesla/22cm bore system will be installed by Winter 2000. Specific animal MRI/S protocols will vary with each project but commonly include serial studies using: standard T2-weighted; T1-weighted (with and without contrast- enhancement); multislice quantitative water diffusion mapping; single- voxel and chemical-shift imaging on proton and fluorine metabolites. Bioluminescent Imaging We have recently added (March 2000) a cryogenically cooled Xenogen CCD imaging system in order to expand our capabilities to provide bioluminescent imaging services. This imaging system has exceptional sensitivity and can be used for imaging mice and rats for detection of both tumor cells and molecular events in living animals. DIPL This component of the Tumor Imaging Core provides UMCC members to equipment and expertise to conduct accurate and reproducible serial volumetric determinations of tumor size. Accurate and reproducible estimations of tumor growth or decrease can be obtained using rapid automated techniques that the DIPL laboratory has developed and applied to tumors at different locations within the body in animals and humans. The DIPL supports remote analysis of digital images acquired from x-ray CT, MRI, PET, ultrasound, and digitized video. Data sets from all CT/MRI scanners, independent consoles and the Department of Radiology's Image Archive can be transferred over Medical Center Information Technology (MCIT) supported networks via DICOM protocols. The Lab contains two 433 MHz DEC Alpha Personal Workstations, one older 200 MHz DEC 3000/500x AXP server, three DECstation 3100S that serve as Xterms, and one dual 300 MHz Pentium NT server.
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