Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers an ideal approach to imaging congenital and acquired cardiovascular diseases in pediatric patients because it is non-invasive, radiation-free and information-rich. However, the general applicability of pediatric cardiovascular MRI is constrained by two challenges. First, currently available techniques cannot collect data faster than cardiac and respiratory motion. Second, children are uncooperative, unstable and vulnerable, making it difficult to employ conventional motion-control techniques that require patient cooperation, e.g., k-space segmentation with breath holding. To overcome these challenges, the proposed project will translate a novel high-speed MRI framework into a data acquisition paradigm that can image the moving heart in real-time. This framework, which is called 'correlation imaging', can overcome the speed limit of available MRI techniques using linear data acquisition and image reconstruction strategies, providing a clinically translatable approach to improving the applicability of pediatric cardiovascular MRI. In this proposed 5-year project, we will translate correlation imaging into a real-time imaging tool that can collect data faster than cardiac and respiratory motion on clinical MRI scanners. We will establish a new real- time data acquisition paradigm for pediatric cardiovascular MRI examination without breath holding, electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring or respiratory navigation in our institution. In addition, we will develop an innovative Fourier analysis approach that can assess cardiovascular function by evaluating blood circulation periodicity from real-time images collected over a series of sequential cardiac cycles. We expect that the proposed research will transform pediatric cardiovascular MRI by reducing motion complications and thus improving disease prognosis and diagnosis. The proposed project will be carried out by a research team of experts from the fields of engineering, physics and cardiology. We will bridge the expertise of scientific, clinical and industrial researchers in order to translate our new high-speed data acquisition technique into pediatric cardiovascular MRI. Since imaging speed is a critical barrier to many areas of clinical MRI, however, our research promises an even more widespread impact on the field of clinical imaging.

Public Health Relevance

The proposed research aims to remove the needs for breath holding; electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring and respiratory navigation in cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination; making it possible to scan pediatric patients who cannot hold their breath well. Children will benefit because they will gain better access to MRI; which is the only available non-invasive imaging tool without radiation. This research is relevant to public health because it promises to improve clinical diagnosis; disease treatment and patient care in the pediatric population.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
7R01EB022405-02
Application #
9406546
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-DTCS-A (81))
Program Officer
Wang, Shumin
Project Start
2016-04-01
Project End
2020-03-31
Budget Start
2017-02-05
Budget End
2017-03-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2016
Total Cost
$172,377
Indirect Cost
$26,204
Name
St. Francis Hospital
Department
Type
Independent Hospitals
DUNS #
065974990
City
Roslyn
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
11576
Li, Yu; Edalati, Masoud; Du, Xingfu et al. (2018) Self-calibrated correlation imaging with k-space variant correlation functions. Magn Reson Med 79:1483-1494
Li, Yu; Dumoulin, Charles (2012) Correlation imaging for multiscan MRI with parallel data acquisition. Magn Reson Med 68:2005-17