MRI method for detecting partial fatty tissue infiltration within the body

Unmet Need

Through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), it is possible to image and differentiate tissues and biological elements throughout the body. However, due to some tissues of the body having similar chemical compositions and subsequent resonances, it can be difficult to discern certain tissues, particularly fats, from other surrounding tissue. There is a need for an MRI method that is optimized for detecting fat tissue that has infiltrated into healthy tissue in the body as is the case for medical conditions like fatty metaplasia of the heart or liver.

Technology

Duke inventors have developed a method for MRI-based imaging to detect infiltration of partial fatty tissue into healthy tissues in the body. This is intended to be offered as optimization software integrated with MRI operating systems to provide improved imaging protocols for the detection of fatty tissue infiltration. Specifically, a common signal approach called steady state free precession (SSFP) is utilized to merge induced and echoed MRI detected pulses into a continuous signal with varying amplitude. This has been demonstrated to provide high-resolution imaging of fatty tissue with highly sensitive specificity such that even partial infiltration of fatty tissue can be detected among surrounding healthy tissue. This method has been shown specifically for detection of myocardial fatty metaplasia in 50 patients undergoing clinical cardiac MRI.

Other Applications

This technology could also be applied to other clinical imaging applications throughout the body in which the detection and differentiation of fatty tissue from surrounding tissue is critical. This method could also be used to enhance the imaging of contrast dyes under MRI, which has implications specifically in oncological imaging of tumors.

Advantages

• High differentiation imaging between fatty and healthy tissue

• Able to be integrated with existing MRI systems

• Does not require additional scanning procedures beyond routine imaging