Virtual Meetings Archive

Join us for a focused symposium on the fundamental and advanced aspects of clinical/applied study design in the field of MR in psychiatry. This event will feature two presentations covering key elements required to develop scientifically rigorous and ethically sound clinical/applied research in psychiatry.

The first session will cover the critical steps in designing an applied study, including population selection, sample size determination, MRI protocol setup, sequence selection, and establishing primary and secondary outcome measures. The talk will also address ethical considerations and strategies for study pre-registration.

The second session will focus on the challenges encountered in applied/clinical research design, including longitudinal vs. cross-sectional studies, statistical methodologies, randomization techniques, and handling bias and missing data. The session will conclude with guidance on selecting appropriate journals for publication.

This symposium will provide valuable insights for researchers looking to enhance the rigor and integrity of their clinical study designs and will provide an opportunity for discussion and questions.

This virtual meeting will take on a unique format unlike the traditional approach of a scientific presentation followed by Q&A or a panel. Instead, we will invite leaders from key scientific organizations that focus on MR safety, including the American College of Radiology (ACR), the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), the ISMRM Safety Committee, and the Society for Pediatric Research (SPR). The session will feature a panel discussion to deeply explore the gaps in MR safety research needs, following brief overviews of each society’s focus areas and a review of the recent survey results led by the MR Safety Study Group.

Our annual MCI virtual meeting will feature an invited speaker followed by four trainee talks on of imaging inflammation.

Ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems, featuring field strength of 7 Tesla (T) and beyond, make it possible to see pathologies at a sub-millimeter resolution currently not detected with conventional MRIs (3T or less). However, using these systems at their full potential at the interface between research and clinic is not straightforward. Among the difficulties, large spatial inhomogeneities of the static magnetic field, causing image artifacts such as distortions and signal loss, limit clinical interpretation. Adding to this complexity, these inhomogeneities not only vary in space but also in time due to respiration [1] causing additional artifacts in the images. It should also be noted that this last limitation not only concerns 7T MRI, but also conventional MRI (3T or less) when acquisitions are made in regions most sensitive to these artefacts, such as the spinal cord or the heart. In this talk, we will look at the causes and effects of these susceptibility artifacts and discuss software and hardware strategies to mitigate them. In particular, we will look at a recent framework to compensate field inhomogeneities in real-time using hybrid coil technologies (AC/DC) [2, 3].

[1]: https://paperpile.com/app/p/9590a7aa-b814-0e08-9929-dc86ae6d42cc
[2]: https://paperpile.com/app/p/4e6c4b2a-ba7e-0587-b577-dd803da62f49
[3]: https://paperpile.com/app/p/ac1779bd-4a67-0a03-94ec-4683fdc6499c

Recent breakthroughs in perfusion MRI research reveal a widespread distribution of tracers in the brain (including intravascular and freely diffusible tracers) extending beyond the bloodstream into the CSF. This has sparked interest into new questions looking at blood-CSF exchange and how we can measure and gain a better understanding of where various tracers end up and move around in the brain. What is the implication of being able to measure the movement of tracers beyond perfusion and what factors mediate this movement? Are perfusion MRI techniques and models sufficiently sensitive to detect and quantify blood CSF exchange? How do we validate them? This virtual meeting has a fundamental focus in which we invite three speakers to share the latest developments in perfusion methods for CSF detection as well as the next questions to address in this exciting field of research.

This virtual meeting aims to enhance understanding of white matter pathology and its implications for diagnosis and treatment. Geert Jan Biessels, M.D., Ph.D., from University Medical Center Utrecht, offers a deep dive into advanced imaging techniques that go beyond traditional lesion counting. Klaus Schmierer, MBBS, Ph.D., FRCP, from the Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London, will address white matter imaging markers for multiple sclerosis, highlighting approaches including recent discoveries.

The goal of this webinar is to discuss environmental sustainability in MRI including an introduction to planetary health and the broad environmental impact of medical imaging, provide an overview of specific and practical actions that can be implemented to improve sustainability in MRI including energy-saving actions and waste reduction, and highlight the role of artificial intelligence and technical innovation to promote sustainability in MRI. The session will include a panel discussion with all speakers with an opportunity for audience engagement and participation.

In this first virtual meeting of the newly founded study group focused on the MRI of neuromodulation, we will welcome all members and give an update on the organization of the next ISMRM workshop that we plan to hold either in the fall of 2025 or beginning of 2026. We will also want to encourage our members to send us possible speakers/topics for a Member-Initiated Symposium proposal for next year’s ISMRM annual meeting in Hawai’i. Right after that, we will have two amazing talks of applications studies using MRI of neuromodulation held by Alexandra Woolgar, Ph.D., and Harriet Lea-Banks, D.Phil.

This MR Elastography virtual meeting is intended for scientist and clinicians interested in the field of MR elastography. It will focus on two key emerging topics: i) technology development, and ii) improving clinical diagnostics. The emerging technical development talks will give an overview of using anisotropic tissue information to better characterize muscle, heart, and brain viscoelasticity. The clinical talks will report on the use of MRE to help improve diagnostic strategies for portal hypertension, aortic stenosis, pancreatic cancers, and to access kidney and spleen function. The format of the 1-hour workshop will be four ten-minute talks, with 20 minutes left for questions and discussion.

Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI allows the specific detection of metabolites that contain exchangeable amide, amine, and hydroxyl protons. It is a promising molecular imaging tool that has been used in preclinical and clinical studies to assess metabolism in a range of tumor types. Endogenous biomolecules can be detected during CEST MRI studies, as well as exogenous CEST agents.

This virtual meeting organized by the MR of Cancer Study Group seeks to address the opportunities of applying CEST MRI in the context of cancer imaging. The first presentation, given by Michael McMahon, Ph.D., will focus on the use of CEST MRI probes for imaging cancer. In the second presentation, Esther Warnert, Ph.D., will provide an overview on applying CEST imaging for brain tumor diagnosis.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologists provide high-quality care to patients daily. They ensure safe scanning methods by researching implants and adhering to conditions from manufacturers. This presentation emphasizes standards in which they prepare and provide comfort, respect, and assistance to patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). It also highlights some anatomy, pathology, sequence options, protocol applications, and processing tools used to monitor and stage the disease process of these patients throughout their course of treatments.

Understanding the complexities of MS requires advanced imaging techniques that go beyond traditional methods. The second presentation will explore the evolution of MRI techniques in MS, transitioning from conventional approaches like measuring brain volume and lesion load to advanced diffusion MRI (dMRI). These approaches offer insights beyond what conventional MRI can deliver, leading to more precise clinical evaluations and a deeper understanding of disease processes in MS.

Overweight and obesity affect billions of individuals worldwide. Effective prevention and treatment remain pressing global health priorities, highlighted by the recent runaway success of GLP1 receptor agonists. The MRI community has the opportunity to play a crucial role both in characterizing body composition changes seen in obesity and related disorders and in assessing the effectiveness and differentiation of new treatment options. Beyond population research, body composition imaging can additionally provide insight into an individual's health and recovery trajectory.

This webinar will provide an overview of technical state of the art for body composition assessment using MRI and describe examples of the insights gained from the implementation of these techniques in clinical studies, including industry-sponsored interventional trials, with speakers representing two of the pre-eminent imaging companies active in this area.

This virtual meeting is jointly held by the MRI in Drug Research and Musculoskeletal MRI study groups. However, we believe this online event will be of broad interest across the membership given the importance of obesity/overweight to multiple disease areas. We welcome your participation.

Hyperpolarization of MR-detectable agents has enabled real-time imaging of in vivo metabolism. Due to its success in detecting aberrant metabolism in multiple diseases and the absence of ionizing radiation, this technique was quickly translated to human studies. Patient studies using hyperpolarized agents are now actively performed in multiple institutions. However, acquisition schemes, protocols, and hardware are not consistent between sites, and reproducibility between MRI vendors has not been investigated, hampering multi-site, multi-vendor trials.

In this virtual meeting, two presentations will be given. During the first half, Rachel Eddy, Ph.D., will share her multi-site, multi-vendor research experiences with hyperpolarized 129Xe gas. In the second half, Cornelius von Morze, Ph.D., will discuss the challenges of using hyperpolarized 13C pyruvate for multi-site studies and recent advances in standardizing protocols.

For decades, MRSI researchers have spoken of high potential for metabolic mapping yet struggled with technical challenges. In Vienna, Gilbert Hangel, Ph.D., and his team are working on a 7T MRSI pipeline that should eventually allow quantitative full-brain mapping of many diseases. This talk, hosted by the Metabolomics and Metabolomic Imaging Study Group, will provide an overview of the developments so far, current "high potential" avenues, and necessary future developments to facilitate whole-brain metabolic imaging.

Arterial spin labeling (ASL) is an MRI method for the non-invasive measurement of tissue blood flow. Blood flow (also known as perfusion) is an important physiological parameter, as it reflects the delivery rate of glucose, oxygen, and other essential nutrients to the tissue. ASL measures tissue perfusion by magnetically labeling arterial blood, which can be achieved using several different approaches. Consequently, ASL has acquired the reputation of being a “difficult” technique for radiographers to run: different manufacturers have different implementations, and the scan setup procedure and parameter terminology can appear complicated and unfamiliar. However, ASL is not to be feared!

The Open Science Initiative for Perfusion Imaging (OSIPI) is an off-shoot of the ISMRM Perfusion Study Group aimed at bringing together developers of MR perfusion imaging (including DSC, DCE, and ASL methods). Our task force, the ASL Lexicon, is specifically dedicated to developing community-endorsed standardized terminology and parameter definitions for ASL. Linked to this, we are also developing multimedia educational materials that use this standardized language to explain the ASL method and to help radiographers understand what an ASL scan involves.

The aims of this session are:

• Introduce ISMRT members to the basic concepts of ASL;
• Explain the background and goals of OSIPI; and
• Solicit feedback from ISMRT members regarding what they would find most useful as online educational resources for understanding and running ASL scans.

The glymphatic system clears the brain of neuronal waste products like amyloid-b via perivascular spaces. Interstitial fluid (ISF) as well as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are central in this system as the carriers of solvable waste products that facilitate their removal from the brain. The mobility of these fluids provides, therefore, important physiological information, and this mobility can be probed by motion-sensitizing gradients as done in diffusion-weighted MRI. Diffusion-weighted MRI has therefore been central in the development of new, non-invasive markers of the glymphatic system. Interpretation of these findings in the context of the glymphatic system, a system that itself is not completely understood and characterized yet, is challenging. In this webinar, two pioneers of this field will share their results and views on diffusion-weighted MRI for imaging neurofluids.

It has long been appreciated that hypoxia reduces the efficacy of radiation therapy. However, a classic quote indicates “hypoxia adored, yet ignored” by the radiation therapy community. Recent innovations and developments in imaging suggest that it is becoming practical to identify tumor hypoxia, and we believe these presentations by experts in MRI and radiation therapy should stimulate further interest. Notably, oxygen-sensitive MRI and MR-LINACs are opening new frontiers.

James Drummond, MBBS, FRANZCR, has initiated clinical trials in both glioblastoma and head and neck cancer with the aim of enhancing radiation efficacy based on assessments of tumor hypoxia. In each case, he proposes to apply oxygen-sensitive MRI, specifically, measurements of R1 to assess tumor hypoxia and compare measurements with F-MISO PET. In GBM, the goal is to assess the potential for dose painting with a selective radiation boost to regions identified as hypoxic. In head and neck cancer, the goal is to recapitulate and expand a recent report from Memorial Sloan Kettering, which indicated effective treatment with substantial dose de-escalation in head neck tumors identified as well-oxygenated. Dr. Drummond will discuss the design of his trials and the logistics for implementing the MRI.

Atchar Sudhyadhom, Ph.D., is also interested in overcoming tumor hypoxia but with the potential use of metal nanoparticles (e.g., AGuIX) to enhance regional brain tumor response based on the stimulation of local Auger electrons. The presentation will focus on the ability to identify tumor hypoxia and the distribution of nanoparticles in the development of optimized protocols.

Quantitative MRI offers tremendous opportunities to study tissue structure and function in healthy and diseased kidneys. However, one critical aspect remains establishing methods to evaluate correlation between MRI metrics and histology, which is still the gold standard for tissue characterization. Addressing this would pave the way for non-invasive characterization of physio-pathological processes affecting the kidneys in multiple conditions.

This virtual meeting organized by the Renal MRI study group seeks to address the challenges and opportunities of bridging the gap between MR and histology for kidney characterization. The first presentation will provide an overview and the groundwork from other organ studies while the second and third presentations will focus on kidneys with an emphasis on chronic kidney disease and renal cancer.

This virtual meeting is offered to encourage MRI radiographers to bring their ideas to the table. An abstract is a summary of a scientific research or clinical case study designed to give the reader a complete, yet concise understanding of your work. Abstracts serve the function of sharing your original work. A scientific approach to writing should be followed, structuring your abstract using the following headings to help form a coherent report: problem statement, literature review, methods, results/findings, discussion and conclusions. The rationale must be clearly stated and discuss only the major points of your work, making sure to highlight the salient results drawn from your findings. Throughout this process you should collaborate with and seek feedback from colleagues. We offer 2 presentations & an opportunity to bring your idea forward for discussion with a panel of experts. They can help guide in transforming your idea into an abstract.

This webinar will deliver the latest information on cancer treatment using intraoperative MRI in the body region. Three experts in this field will give lectures on MRI-guided high-intensity-focused ultrasound and cryotherapy, particularly for lesions in the liver and prostate, from a technical development and clinical perspective. This webinar is jointly held by the Interventional MRI and Body MRI study groups. We believe this online event will be useful not only for members of both study groups but also for all members who are interested in the use of MRI in treatment. We have set the start time to 23:00 UTC so that people around the world can watch at a time slot that is as convenient as possible. We warmly welcome your participation.

Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

• Identify the role of imaging in identifying liver and prostate cancer, monitoring treatment response and management of complications of treatment;
• List real-world case examples to help radiologists gain a better understanding of how to safely and effectively manage lesions in the abdomen and pelvis, diagnose and stage cancers of the abdomen and pelvis and interpret post treatment changes; and
• Describe new and emerging MRI interventional technologies (hardware, software, sequences, ancillary equipment) and current research studies that may guide clinical practice improvement.

The faculty, authors, and content developers reported having no financial relationships with ineligible companies:

Ryan Brunsing M.D.; Elizabeth Hecht M.D.; Houchun Hu Ph.D.; Kagayaki Kuroda Ph.D.; Vipul Sheth M.D., Ph.D.; Nelly Tan, M.D. & Yuxiang Zhou Ph.D.

Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and susceptibility tensor imaging (STI) both aim to estimate magnetic susceptibility distribution of biological tissue from MRI phase measurements. While QSM assumes an isotropic bulk susceptibility in an MR imaging voxel, STI extends it to an anisotropic tensor. However, for complex tissues such as myelinated white matter fibers, MRI phase or the underlying Larmor frequency shifts may also be affected by the tissue magnetic microstructure at cellular or mesoscopic scales that are much smaller than the imaging voxel, raising questions on the accuracy of the QSM or STI model. A recent poll among our EMTP study group members resulted in susceptibility microstructure being the number one topic of interest for a virtual meeting.

While susceptibility microstructure has always been an important topic in QSM and STI, including previous generalized Lorentzian approaches and multicompartment modeling, some recent theoretical works have further pushed the field to approach a more realistic biophysical model of white matter and the corresponding microstructure contributions. In addition, advanced experimental studies, e.g., high angular resolution susceptibility tensor imaging with different sub-voxel modeling, may provide more evidence and insights into the microstructure effect.

The two presentations in this virtual meeting will review recent approaches to better model the microstructural effect on Larmor frequency shift, how to address it in susceptibility estimation, and recent experimental findings from advanced susceptibility tensor imaging.

The presentations will be followed by a discussion of the presented methods, findings, and future directions.

The last week in July is universally recognized as MR Safety Week, inspired by the anniversary and 2001 tragic MRI-related death of Michael Colombini, age 6, resulting from a steel oxygen cylinder being brought into the MRI room during his exam. The initial goal of this week was to prevent such a tragedy from happening again and has expanded into a week-long event giving us a chance to refresh our safety education and highlight some of the issues we all face in the MR environment.

This webinar is part of the ISMRM-WFPI Pediatric MRI webinar series, an ongoing collaboration between ISMRM and the World Federation of Pediatric Imaging (WFPI). Together, these two organizations are uniting to improve the quality of and access to pediatric MRI globally through knowledge dissemination and networking.

Following the 5th webinar that focused on MRI protocols for neuroradiology, this 6th webinar will look at MRI protocols for two increasingly common indications: evaluation of bowel and rapid MR protocols for abdominal pathology. Our expert speakers are physicians and scientists from ISMRM and WFPI. They will share examples of how they solve dilemmas encountered day to day in the acquisition and/or interpretation of pediatric MRI across different ages and body parts.

Phosphorous (31P) MRS allows the non-invasive measurement of tissue energy metabolism and homeostasis in a matter of minutes. In this seminar, the basics of skeletal and cardiac muscle energetics are reviewed, in health and disease, along with 31P MRS methods that allow the quantification and monitoring of key metabolites ATP and phosphocreatine.

The first lecture will be on the importance of study design using contraction protocols, the interpretation of human muscle studies, and the bioenergetics underpinnings of aging and chronic disease. The second lecture will focus on the importance of 7T UHF methodology for whole-heart clinical studies of heart failure and “metabolic modulating” therapies.

The clinical practice is getting wider in Tesla. We are used to working in 1.5 and/or 3T scanners, but do you ever think about going up or down in magnetic fields? This reality can knock on your door at any time. We invited two ISMRT members who have daily activities operating ultra-low field (64mT) and ultra-high field (7T) machines. They will share the benefits and challenges of these technologies and give some advice. There will be a Q&A session after the presentations.

In this annual virtual meeting, two new research directions in the field of Hyperpolarized Agents and Applications will be presented by experts.

In this session, we will focus on two current developments in the use of MR imaging for ensuring drug safety during the drug development stage and beyond. Our first speaker, Paul Hockings, Ph.D., will provide insights from the IMI TRISTAN project on dynamic contrast imaging in the liver for monitoring hepatic drug safety in drug development. Our second speaker, neuroradiologist Meike Vernooij, M.D., Ph.D., will introduce amyloid-related imaging abnormalities as a safety endpoint in anti-amyloid therapies for Alzheimer’s disease and will show how these endpoints translate from drug development to a standard-of-care setting.

It is now around 25 years since two publications proposed models for hemodynamic responses that ended up being widely known as the "canonical hemodynamic response function (HRF)" and heavily influenced the analysis of fMRI data. In this webinar, we've invited one of the authors of those early studies to discuss the context of their work back then, and if and how they are relevant now, a quarter century later. We will also have two talks from study group members on the variability of actual hemodynamic responses across subjects, brain regions, tasks, and even between trials of a single task.

The Clinical-Translational MRI challenge aims to improve the (patient) impact of the ISMRM community’s research work through focus on addressing specific unmet clinical needs that are expertly defined by ISMRM members. This virtual meeting will introduce the 2024-25 edition of the Clinical Translation: Unmet Needs Challenge, through which we will invite our members to submit unmet needs, and then present them in a Power Pitch session before allowing 9 months for others to propose, develop, and validate solutions.

This virtual meeting will explore essential early steps in a needs-focused innovation process, including identification, scoping, and specification of unmet needs. Using examples, we will discuss a framework for developing Unmet Needs Statements that include essential background, must-have and nice-to-have features, and questions for clarifying how solving the need will change clinical practice. We will describe well-framed and less-well-framed examples of Unmet Needs Statements in different clinical areas for discussion, along with techniques to guide members in writing Unmet Needs for the Challenge.

Explore innovative approaches to enhancing MRI accessibility through hackathons and open-source solutions. Discover how collaborative efforts are driving advancements in portable and low-field MRI technology, making it more accessible to diverse communities worldwide. Engage with experts, share insights, and learn about the latest developments in this dynamic field. Don't miss this opportunity to be part of the conversation shaping the future of MRI technology.

Creating an academic research culture that values and respects individuals from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives is crucial for the MRI research community. A positive and inclusive culture can enhance collaborations, improve professional well-being, and lead to better innovation and research outcomes. This one-hour webinar organized by the ISMRM EDI Task Force aims to explore the current state of diversity and inclusion in MRI research. Three experts will share their insights on the following topics: (1) the current state, challenges, and recommendations for promoting diversity and inclusion in radiology and radiology research with regard to gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity; (2) the findings of a Wellcome Trust study focusing on researchers' perceptions of their work environment and strategies to promote inclusivity better; and (3) how strategies from the business sector can be adapted to promote a positive and inclusive culture in academic research.

The ISMRM Diffusion Study Group is hosting a virtual meeting focused on motion correction strategies for diffusion MRI. As diffusion MRI acquisitions become more readily adopted in the clinic, the goal of this meeting is to provide an overview of different motion correction strategies for acquisition and post-processing in the brain, body, and heart through three talks presented by key experts working in the domains of neuroimaging, body, and cardiac diffusion MRI. The virtual meeting will conclude with a brief panel discussion among the speakers and moderated by two experts in the field on the advantages and disadvantages associated with various methodologies. Attendees can expect to come away from the virtual meeting with a holistic understanding of the evolving landscape of motion correction strategies for diffusion MRI in different anatomical regions and their implications for medical research and clinical practice.

Diffusion MRI is a powerful technique to interrogate tissue microstructure by probing the diffusion of water. Over the past several years, cardiac diffusion MRI methods have been developed and used to assess 3D microarchitecture in the myocardium that underlies the mechanical and electrical function of the heart. These developments have resulted in a new understanding of the heart in health and disease. This virtual meeting is intended to present state-of-the-art cardiac diffusion MRI methodology and provide perspective on the growing role of diffusion MRI in cardiac imaging.

We are getting ready for another ISMRM-ISMRT Annual Meeting! Our chair and vice-chair will share program highlights for this year. Also, let's know more about the host city, Singapore! Do you know what is the most popular dish over there? Discover with us in our next virtual meeting. It will be open to non-members, too.

Networking and collaboration are not only essential for significant advancements in the scientific field but also serve as valuable avenues for gaining new experiences and enhancing research quality. Within the perfusion community, we recognize the importance of these principles. In our upcoming meeting, four prominent perfusion-related networks—OSIPI, RenalMRI, BIDS, and GliMR—will provide updates on their work. Additionally, they will elaborate on the advantages of joining their respective networks and engage in discussions about the challenges they encounter.

This meeting focuses on leveraging ultra-high field (UHF) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and MRS-imaging (MRSI) applications with an emphasis on hardware advancements, sequence development for both proton and phosphorus spectroscopy in the brain and body, and their applications.

UHF-MR scanners, operating at magnetic field strengths of 7 Tesla and above, offer enhanced sensitivity & spectral resolution, making them a valuable tool for probing molecular & metabolic processes in-vivo. This meeting seeks to explore recent advancements in UHF MRS(I), focusing on hardware innovations, sequence development in both 1H & X-nuclei MRS(I), and applications in (clinical) neuroscience.

This virtual meeting will focus on the biological effects from radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic radiation. For safety purposes, RF exposure from MRI is limited according to internationally recognized guidelines and standards. Notably, maximum specific absorption rate (SAR) limits are defined by specific averaging schemes and RF exposure durations, and these SAR limits serve as surrogates for core and local temperature elevations. Apart from MRI, the increased use of RF wireless technologies has prompted many new scientific developments. In this virtual meeting, James C. Lin, Ph.D., (Life Fellow, IEEE) will present a critical and analytical assessment of the safety of human exposure to RF radiation, including developments outside the MRI domain that may impact future safety guidelines and standards.

This virtual meeting aims to provide clinicians and scientists with the tools needed to build large open imaging databases. Two speakers with different backgrounds that will be able to provide complementary information. The first speaker is Sarina Rivera who is a general counsel working in biotechnology. She will provide a high-level overview of current legislative and regulatory laws involving data-sharing, including GDPR (European-based) and the recent USA state-based regulations (e.g., CCPA). The second speaker is Laure Fournier, a clinician leading the CHAIMELEON imaging repository to support resources for AI experimentation for cancer management.

Quantitative MRI techniques reveal promising markers for renal disease and could provide additional insights into kidney pathology characterization and disease progression in patients. The interest in renal MRI-derived biomarkers is driven by the potential to quantify morphological, microstructural, hemodynamic, and metabolic changes non-invasively and across the entire kidney parenchyma. Radiologists generally evaluate signals using intensity descriptors such as “hyperintense” or “hypointense” and use the expected signal appearance of various tissues and associated pathologies to render a differential diagnosis. However, this subjective analysis of relatively “weighted” images is only a fraction of the tissue property information that could be provided by MRI techniques. The very concept of “weighting” can start to break down when more than one tissue is being compared. In addition, limitations of current MRI technologies include variable image acquisition across scanners, limited reproducibility of images, and known inter-reader variability in image interpretation. Quantitative MRI provides a unique and discrete analysis of tissue parameters and holds promise in addressing some of these limitations. We have now entered an era in which it is possible to obtain rapid quantitative measurements of numerous physiologically relevant tissue properties—diffusion, perfusion, fat content, iron content, blood oxygen level, tissue elasticity, T1, T2, etc. Each property has found scientific and clinical utility in various applications. With the advancement of the computing power of modern MRI scanners, the images can be post-processed and quantitative maps be generated on the scanner console, ready for review as soon as the acquisition is complete. Such quantitative MRI methods in kidney imaging are vital because they are relatively unbiased as compared with qualitative descriptions. In this webinar, we intend to review the quantitative methods and its applications in the clinic.

This virtual meeting will discuss ongoing and future initiatives of the Low Field MRI study group. As a new study group, we want to host a discussion of activities that may be of interest to our growing community. We encourage you to unmute and share ideas! We will first have an update on the “Low Field MRI Roadmap” white paper that originated at ISMRM 2023 in Toronto, and then have broader discussion of other possible initiatives including open data repositories, opportunities for sharing (hardware, software, protocols, etc.), training for clinicians and new users of low field MRI, our next ISMRM workshop, and more.

It's time for the third edition of the President's Challenge. It's a way for ISMRT members to show the value of being part of this Society. As a member of the ISMRT, you register to host an event, choose a package, and organize a 1-hour meeting with your colleagues. We have done all the upfront work of creating several different packages you can choose from. Each package includes a PowerPoint presentation to support you in leading the meeting. Embedded in the slides are videos on the topic of choice. Details on providing attendees certificates of attendance or CE/CPD credit will also be included. It’s that simple! At this virtual meeting, ISMRT President Glenn Cahoon will talk about 2024 packages and two talks from expert MR physicists, engaging educators, and long-term supporters of the ISMRT educational programs: Martin Graves and Donald McRobbie. So, are you up for a Challenge?

The DSG trainee day is a fully online workshop that will provide plenty of opportunities for one-on-one discussions, informal networking, and stimulate interaction between trainees and established researchers.

The DSG day features events split across three time zones: Asia/Australasia (1:00-7:00 UTC), Europe/Africa (9:00-15:00 UTC), and North/South Americas (17:00-23:00 UTC). Each time zone will feature educational lectures, scientific talks, power-pitches, poster sessions and social activities.

The field of imaging psychiatric disorders has experienced continuous growth & expansion over the last few decades, fueled by emerging cutting-edge technologies and an evolving scope of view. In the "MR in Psychiatry" virtual meeting, we will delve into the rich history of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in Psychiatry. This engaging event aims to explore not only the past achievements but also the future potential of these techniques in transforming our understanding of psychiatric disorders. Join us as we discuss the latest advancements, novel methodologies, and groundbreaking research in psychoradiology, paving the way for advancements in psychiatric care and personalized treatment approaches.

This lecture, given at the Society of Radiographers of South Africa (SORSA) meeting in August, focuses on MSK protocols.

This webinar is part of the ISMRM-WFPI Pediatric MRI webinar series, an ongoing collaboration between ISMRM & the World Federation of Pediatric Imaging (WFPI). Together, these two organizations are uniting to improve quality in and access to pediatric MRI globally through knowledge dissemination & networking.

Following on from the third webinar that focused on artifacts and mimics with a "neuro" flavour, this fourth webinar will be looking at technical factors and/or pathology mimics in the lung, body, and musculoskeletal systems, including prenatally, which can contribute to diagnostic challenges. Our speakers are physicians & scientists from ISMRM & WFPI. They will share examples of how they problem-solve dilemmas encountered day-to-day in the acquisition and/or interpretation of pediatric MRI across different ages and body parts.

In this virtual meeting, we will look closer at functional imaging of the subcortical areas. Both from an image acquisition point & from an analysis point, there are plenty of challenges for those looking for good quality fMRI results. Two talks will each dive into one of those aspects: first, Simon Robinson will speak about acquisition techniques that are especially suited for the subcortex & then Marta Bianciardi will speak about atlasing & connectomics of brainstem nuclei specifically.

Pulseq is a vendor-independent MR pulse programming platform that allows an MRI sequence to be created and analyzed in interactive programming environments such as MATLAB or Python and executed on hardware using sequence-agnostic interpreters. Mature interpreters for the Pulseq specification now exist for Siemens and GE scanners, with possibly more to follow in the future. This course will take place over three half-days and will cover the following: (1) basic Pulseq concepts for beginners; (2) advanced sequence implementation and analysis tools; (3) vendor-specific implementation details and workflow; and (4) examples of applications and third-party tools from the user community.

This virtual seminar will present recent advances in low field MRI during pregnancy. Talks will describe the technical development, human application, and future clinical potential of 0.55T MRI methods for evaluation of placental and fetal anatomy & physiology. Speakers will delve into emerging research areas, exploring innovative applications of low field MRI in maternal & fetal health. The audience will gain an in-depth understanding of the current state of low field MRI research in pregnancy, including the advantages & limitations of these novel systems. Furthermore, the seminar will feature discussions on the potential implications of these advancements for prenatal care & diagnostics, offering a comprehensive overview of the field's exciting prospects.

Cardiovascular MRI has seen continual growth & expansion in both clinical applications & available technology. There is a push to make imaging faster & more robust using accelerated acquisitions & advanced image reconstruction. In addition, there is ongoing research into the role of artificial intelligence for cardiac MRI applications. Clinically, cardiac MRI continues to find new clinical applications for both adult and pediatric patients and to establish its superiority to other imaging methods. The goal of this virtual meeting is to review the latest developments in cardiac MRI & discuss emerging trends.

This virtual meeting will answer the following questions regarding imaging neurofluids:

• What are the main macro flows in the craniospinal system (arteries, sinuses, veins, and CSF compartments)?
• Which MRI sequence should be used to measure these flows (ungated or gated 2D PCMRI or 4D PCMRI, RT PCMRI)?
• What are the main advantages and limitations of these different sequences?
• What will be the future of MRI in the field of neurofluid flow measurements?
• How we can post-process such images?
• How can neurofluid flows be useful in clinical applications?
• What are the main parameters of interests in the clinic?
• What will be the future of MRI in the field of neurofluid flows?

The meeting will focus on strategies for specific cell & biomarker targeting. Speakers will present novel approaches & contrast agents to facilitate identification of specific cells or biomarkers for in vivo imaging.

The deadline for abstract submissions to the 2024 Annual meeting is fast approaching. Writing an abstract & presenting a poster is a great opportunity to get in touch with the ISMRT community. It’s also the chance to show how your site/ country is working on the field of MRI. If you are wondering how to do it, we are here to help! This virtual meeting will present the tips and tricks to submit a successful abstract. You will also have the opportunity to ask questions to members of abstract & annual meeting program committees. Don’t miss it!

Electrical Properties Tomography (EPT) is gaining increasing popularity as a way to map the electrical conductivity and permittivity of human tissues non-invasively using clinical MRI systems and conventional MRI sequences. However, a series of assumptions is required to solve the relevant equations underlying the reconstruction problem, which has led to the development of a range of solutions and approaches in the field of EPT. As the electrical properties of tissues can be modified, for example in tumors, EPT has great potential as a clinical application. Yet, the current lack of standardization of EPT approaches and lack of reproducibility studies hamper current clinical implementation. This virtual meeting is focused on the role of the standardization of EPT as an essential step toward its clinical use. We will review an ongoing EPT reproducibility challenge, have an outlook on the maturity of EPT from a metrological perspective, and conclude with a review of the clinical utility of phase-based conductivity values.

This virtual meeting will cover new acquisition & post-processing methods that have recently been developed to improve the image quality & reproducibility of hyperpolarized MRI.

This virtual meeting is organized by both the Perfusion Study Group and Cardiac MR Study Group. The meeting will focus on the stress cardiac MR perfusion imaging for quantification of myocardial blood flow and reserve to evaluate the severity of stenosis in patients with coronary artery disease. We invited three experts in this field. Both the clinical & technical aspects of first-pass MRI using a gadolinium-based contrast agent will be discussed. In addition, the development of various cardiac arterial spin labeling techniques will also be reviewed. The audience will gain an understanding of the clinical value and the current state of CMR myocardial perfusion as well as advantages & limitations of both contrast and non-contrast CMR methods.

This virtual meeting of the Musculoskeletal Study Group will focus on imaging muscle and joint function and will also contain a business part. There are two presentations from members of the study group: one will be focusing on muscle and the other one on the lumbar spine. The muscle presentation will provide an overview of the current methods for the visualization and quantification of muscle contraction efficacy in MRI, with particular focus on electrically induced muscle contractions and recent applications to neuromuscular diseases in adult and pediatric populations. The lumbar spine presentation will describe studies that focus on the utilization of upright MRI to explore aspects of lumbar spine adaptation to various external stimuli, with a focus on active-duty military members. Specifically, the postural response of the spinal column and the health of the intervertebral discs in response to simulated operational positions, load carriage, training, exercise, and end-range positions will be discussed. We will also review the business meeting during this year’s ISMRM Annual Meeting and gauge interest on other future study group activities.

Several human MR systems above 10 Tesla are being developed. There has been a growing interest in ultra-high field MR above 10 Tesla in humans in order to further push the limits for in vivo human MR technologies. The higher magnetic field strength enables higher spatial resolution and more detailed images of anatomical structures, which may open up new avenues for advanced research in neuroscience and medical imaging, potentially unveiling novel insights into the intricate workings of the human brain and body. Nevertheless, these exciting advancements come with their share of challenges as well. For instance, higher magnetic field strengths demand specialized hardware and radiofrequency coils, making these systems considerably more expensive and complex to design and maintain. Moreover, patient safety remains a crucial issue, as the effects of prolonged exposure to ultra-high magnetic fields are not yet fully understood. In this virtual meeting, we invite experts in the field to discuss and present hardware development, simulation works, comparative studies to lower field strength, and other updates for human MR systems above 10 Tesla. The goal is to present challenges and opportunities of MR above 10 Tesla to a community increasingly interested in ultra-high field MR.

This virtual meeting will assess current advancements in temperature mapping for MR safety monitoring, the monitoring and evaluation of thermal therapies, and monitoring temperature increase around implants.

MR guided radiation therapy treatment is a growing field that involves a diverse multidisciplinary team with varying experience and knowledge in MRI. Specific requirements for MR images need to be met in order for them to be used for accurate planning of radiotherapy treatment, particularly if they are to be used as the primary, or only, data set.

We will discuss the limitations of diagnostic MRI scans and the reason why MRI protocols specifically designed for use in radiotherapy are necessary. This session aims to outline the basic physics and minimum imaging requirements for radiotherapy planning and provide an opportunity for education and discussion across the multiple professional groups involved in this area.

Introducing topics in Neuro Oncology on Glioma imaging and advancements utilizing PET/MR. The webinar will also focus topics on pediatric imaging.

MR professionals from this year’s host country will discuss the state of MR in Canada, from safety and professional points of view. It's a great opportunity to know better about the routine and perspectives of ISMRT's long-term partner.

This webinar features Cathy MacDonald, former police crisis negotiator, and Prof. Derek Jones, the Father of Power Pitches. The main focus of this webinar is to help improve your presentation skills and specifically tailor your message to the ISMRM community. After all, the way you present your work is crucial to engage with other scientists in our field.

In this meeting, the MRS Code and Data Sharing Committee will update the whole MRS community on their newest efforts. Firstly, Kelley Swanberg will present 1HMRS-VERI (the Proton MRS Validation Effort Resource Initiative), a special endeavor to provide a centralized means for sharing spectral datasets that can be used to quantitatively validate proton magnetic resonance spectral processing and quantification tools. Secondly, John LaMaster and Antonia Kaiser will introduce the plan to write a community best practices paper on synthetic data in the field of MRS.

This virtual seminar will discuss the use of preclinical models (rodents, macaque, sheep) for studying the placenta using MRI. Talks will cover a variety of imaging techniques and describe how these models can aid in the development of new therapies and treatments for placental disorders. The audience will gain an understanding of the current state of placental MRI research, advantages and limitations of various animal models of the human placenta, as well as the potential for future advancements in this field.

Tumour characterisation via non-invasive “virtual biopsies” holds great promise in oncology, with applications ranging from tumour screening, diagnosis and staging, to treatment planning and prognosis prediction. However, using MRI signals on the millimetre scale to obtain microstructural information equivalent to that from invasive histopathology with targeted staining and micron resolution is challenging. Diffusion MRI promises sensitivity to cellular features and is already being used within oncological practices. But does it yet provide virtual biopsies that can be reliably used in the clinic?

Join our discussion with three excellent speakers who will present current opinions and recent advances from research to the clinic, and from the body to the brain.

The Annual Meeting will present a series of multi-language talks. Let's show how global our society can be!

The organizers will give the highlights of their sessions in Portuguese, Japanese, French, Spanish and Chinese. Call your colleagues 'cause it's going to be open to all, members and non-members! It's social time!

With a booming increase in the use of implantable medical devices, it's crucial to pay extra attention to the safety of children who are becoming a rapidly growing portion of recipients. The pediatric medical device market is expected to soar by 10% yearly, reaching a staggering $54 billion by 2028. This trend is only set to intensify due to recent regulatory measures and heightened parental awareness.

Despite this exponential growth, there is a concerning lack of well-defined MRI safety guidelines for pediatric patients with conductive implants. Take the example of children with cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIEDs). Most of the CIEDs scanned clinically in children are off-label, and even if deemed MR-Conditional for adults, their safety in children remains uncertain. Meanwhile, epicardial devices are not MR-Conditional at all. The 2021 PACES guideline provided a class IIb recommendation for MRI of pediatric CIED patients with epicardial or abandoned leads, but it lacks clear guidance on risk assessment. As a result, many institutions are forced to either deny MRI services to the majority of pediatric CIED patients or blindly rely on adult studies for all scans. Both options carry potential risks and limitations, highlighting the dire need for an open dialogue to advance the field.

In light of this pressing issue, we have invited experts in the field of MRI safety from industry, academia, regulatory sciences, as well as physicians and imaging technologists in charge of managing MRI in pediatric patients with devices to share their experience and challenges with the hope of moving the field forward.

This session will focus on the use of genetics and imaging data for therapeutic target identification and applications of cardiac MR in clinical trials in familial cardiomyopathies. The first presentation will give an overview of how MR imaging derived phenotypes, linked to genetics, can provide insights into human biology, disease status, and potential therapeutic targets. The second presentation will review the established, advanced, and emerging applications of CMR, and reflect on future opportunities and potential barriers encountered in its use in cardiovascular clinical trials.

The virtual meeting aims to discuss and address the current gap in the clinical translation of quantitative MR techniques. Three talks will address various aspects of the gap. These include:

1. the challenges and opportunities in clinical translation;
2. the variations and standardization of qMR sequences; and
3. the variations and standardization of qMR analysis tools.

Finally, we will have a panel discussion on how to bridge the gaps

The theme of the workshop addresses one of the key topics within renal MR, that of the clinical and research uses of contrast enhanced MR. There has been considerable research, clinical practice, and policymaking devoted to the benefits and risks of this topic in recent years, and our society and study group is perfectly poised for a review and dialogue about this important sector of imaging.

Innovations in MR development have great potential for commercialization, successfully illustrated with liver MRE. Yet, other applications have not undergone the clinical trials necessary to motivate clinical adoption. During our last SG meeting, we identified the need to foster the clinical adoption of brain MRE, and believe that robust inversion algorithms are imperative for the success of this effort. We intend to launch an internal simulation challenge, that will likely lead to innovation, worth protecting and/or sharing. This virtual meeting will provide guidance to navigate between IP and open-source science and to find/define scenarios that could reconcile both worlds.

QSM aims to compute the magnetic susceptibility distribution of biological tissue from MRI phase measurements. In voxels where both positive (paramagnetic) and negative (diamagnetic) susceptibility sources are present, their contributions to local phase could cancel out making the true underlaying susceptibility sources hard to recover using QSM. However, quantifying separately the negative susceptibility sources such as myelin, and positive susceptibility sources such as iron, could be crucial for the assessment of some pathophysiological processes, such as demyelination and remyelination in multiple sclerosis where myelin and iron can colocalize within lesion voxels.

Recently, several new methods have been proposed to disentangle the contributions of negative and positive susceptibility sources and to compute maps of negative and positive susceptibility. The three presentations in this virtual meeting will review these methods, their potential applications and highlight their differences in terms of data acquisition and signal modeling.

The presentations will be followed by a discussion on the viability of the presented methods and future directions as well as limitations and obstacles that need to be overcome for susceptibility source separation.

Overview: In this virtual meeting with a clinical focus, four speakers will present and debate the pros and cons of the application of perfusion imaging techniques (including arterial spin labeling and contrast based perfusion imaging techniques) in their clinical practice.

Let's gather together to welcome new members, introduce your executive members and share about the incredible resources available on the ISMRT website and upcoming ISMRT activities in the region. We will have a bit of trivia and fun along the way, as well.

Overview: This 1-hour event is the inaugural Virtual Meeting of the Low Field MRI Study Group. The objective of the Low Field MRI Study Group is to facilitate the development and application of low field strength MRI technology (<1.0T), which includes hardware, software, and clinical translation. This webinar will feature an overview of the state-of-the-art in low field MRI plus a live demonstration of a new low field MRI technology to detect and remove electromagnetic interference.

In January 2023, a man was accompanying his mother for an MRI at an outpatient site in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He was carrying a loaded gun, which was pulled by the magnet and set off, the bullet hitting him. He died two weeks later, becoming the first MRI fatal accident reported in Brazil. But why does an accident like that still occur in 2023? What could be done to avoid such tragedy? In this virtual meeting, we are going to listen to stories from a Brazilian point of view and analyze all the potentials pitfalls. We will also study Brazilian safety norms in MRI procedures and discuss how other countries besides the US, such as the UK, deal with MRI safety. Do you think that MRI safety procedures need to be adapted for different regions of the world? Come and join us!

Overview: The goals of this Engineering Study Group virtual meeting are to:

1. Share successfully examples of open-source hardware projects that have been adopted at multiple sites. While ISMRM has given a lot of attention to open source software tools recently, we feel that hardware would benefit from more attention, since it can present additional challenges compared to software (e.g., safety testing, fabrication methods, test and measurement procedures, etc.).
2. Discuss the remaining obstacles and barriers to the sharing of hardware research tools, including finding appropriate funding mechanisms for dissemination, hiring staff with the requisite engineering expertise, dealing with institutional requirements and Intellectual Property considerations, etc.
3. Compile a list of Action Items that the Engineering Study Group can pursue to help overcome these obstacles moving forward.

The overarching aim is to catalyze faster scientific progress by encouraging open source sharing of hardware tools, so different research groups don’t need to “reinvent the wheel” in the course of conducting their research. As MRI research instrumentation has grown more sophisticated, we feel that this has become a significant barrier to progress.

Overview: The field of neurofluids is still developing incredibly fast both with respect to new insights into fundamental biological properties as well as with new MRI sequences to probe brain clearance in rodents and human subjects. In this virtual meeting we have two speakers who shaped the field of brain clearance over the years. Prof. Maiken Nedergaard has postulated the glymphatic system in 2012 and since then has made many discoveries on the physiology of brain clearance. Her latest discovery includes the existence of a fourth meningeal layer (SLYM) as published in 2023 in Science. Prof. Helene Benveniste has pioneered the MRI methods to image brain clearance in rodent’s brains. Her measurements of gadolinium-based contrast agent clearance after injection in the cisterna magna and the tracer kinetic analysis of these, have helped tremendously in understanding the dynamics of waste clearance. Recently, she is also focusing on non-invasive MRI techniques that can easily be translated to humans. In this Virtual Meeting these two researchers will update us on recent developments in brain clearance and present a forward looking perspective on it.

Overview: This virtual meeting is focused on career development for trainee and early career members of the ISMRM Cardiac MRI Study Group. The virtual session will include expertise and advice for different career paths, with six speakers arranged into three breakout rooms.

Schedule:
08:00-08:05 – Welcome
08:05-08:20 – Speaker introductions
08:20-08:50 – Breakout rooms
08:50-09:00 – Plenary & closing words

Overview: In this virtual meeting, the presenters will discuss the mechanisms underpinning the imaging data of a perfusion sequence, as well as what details need to be analyzed before, during, and after acquisition.

Overview: Hypoxia has been the most prominent predictive marker for response to radiation therapy. This virtual meeting will show the latest developments in hypoxia biomarker imaging using MRI. Both preclinical and clinical research will be highlighted by two distinguished speakers: Dr Stephen Brown and Professor James O'Connor.

Overview: Despite the added value of 7T MRI systems in the surgical planning for deep brain stimulation (DBS) demonstrated by some experts, these systems are still not commonly used even in centers equipped with such systems. The High Field Systems & Applications study group of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) and the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (WSSFN) have launched a survey to get better idea of the current practice in this field over the world. The goal was to better understand the needs, issues, potential benefits and remaining technological barriers that still to be overcome. This initiative leads to this joint virtual meeting that will tackle these points in order to improve the practice in this realm. During this virtual meeting, after an introduction with a presentation of the survey results, three functional neurosurgeons will present their approach and why they use (or not) ultra-high field (UHF) MRI in their practice. The talks will be followed by an open discussion led by two MRI experts specialized in the field of UHF in DBS.

Overview: In this virtual workshop, we will have 3 speakers who will talk about their work on imaging tumor microstructure using MRI.

Dr. Pathak will highlight how interdisciplinary research at the interface of engineering, medicine and design is needed to develop new hardware, software, and “wetware” tools for characterizing the structural and functional changes in the tumor microenvironment. I will illustrate how one can leverage multiscale and multimodality imaging approaches in conjunction with novel computational and visualization tools to revolutionize our understanding of cancer in the preclinical setting. This lecture will showcase: (i) “VascuViz”, a new multimodality and multiscale imaging and visualization pipeline for cancer systems biology; (ii) mini-microscopes for “life-cycle” brain tumor imaging; and (iii) image-based computational cancer biology.

Dr. Tadimalla will present recent and on-going work on the promise and limitations of quantitative mpMRI as response biomarkers of prostate cancer after radiation therapy. Tumor recurrence occurs in nearly half of prostate cancer patients treated with radiation therapy, and MRI biomarkers have shown potential as early response biomarkers and could potentially replace current blood biomarkers which suffer from low sensitivity and specificity.

Dr. Mason will examine methods such as BOLD, TOLD, DCE MRI which have shown recent progress in the context of older quantitative oximetry studies based on 19F MR of perfluorocarbons, 1H of siloxanes, ESR and bioreductive nitroimidazole markers. Tumor oxygenation is related to vascular architecture and extent as well as metabolic activity.

Overview: fMRI falls under many different categories at ISMRM, and navigating how to pitch your work can be a tricky task. This session will include invited contributions from current (or past) AMPC members about the abstract workflows behind the scenes, specific to fMRI. Furthermore we aim to have a panel of experts to provide tips and tricks about fMRI-abstracts:

1. A good fMRI abstract from the author perspective (from award winners)
2. A good abstract from a reviewer perspective (from long term reviewers)
3. Abstracts from a AMPC perspective and what they do with it
4. Abstracts from the reader (conference attendee) perspective

Though there is an existing ‘how-to abstract’ session every year (about the technicalities of the submission process), we are adding a specific fMRI touch to it given the unique challenges that fMRI research faces.

Overview: Recent consensus efforts in the field of clinical in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) have provided a guidelines for best practices in data acquisition, processing and analysis. However, in the field of pre-clinical MRS, no consensus for best practices has been established, and methodological practices may differ greatly between sites. The goal of this virtual workshop is to bring the preclinical MRS research community together to discuss a starting point for developing and establishing guidelines for best practices in pre-clinical MRS. Our ultimate goal is to initiate a multi-site study to assess the variability of preclinical brain MRS measures using a ’standardised’ rodent brain MRS protocol. We will hear from individuals who have successfully carried out similar multi-site efforts in the field of pre-clincial MR imaging research.