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Musculoskeletal and Quantitative Imaging Research: MQIR
More information: MQIR website In June, an interdisciplinary research group was formally established in the Department of Radiology at UCSF. The group forms a cohesive center for existing and new faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, research staff, and medical and graduate students to pursue teaching and research in quantitative tissue characterization focused on the musculoskeletal system.
In close collaboration with the clinical Musculoskeletal Section, the group’s mission is to integrate and build research collaborations between basic scientists, clinical scientists, and physicians, establishing a strong resource for musculoskeletal imaging-based research at UCSF. In recognition of the fact that collaborative bridges among departments and campuses is key to advancement in today’s research climate, partnerships will be strengthened and nurtured not only within Radiology, but also between Orthopedic Surgery, Medicine, and Bioengineering at UCSF and UC Berkeley. The current faculty members comprising the MQIR, Thomas Lang, Thomas Link, Sharmila Majumdar, Sven Prevrhal, and John Shepherd, have diverse backgrounds and a wide range of expertise. Thomas Lang, PhD, has a group of researchers working on characterizing bone geometry and biomechanical properties using computed tomography. His current research, which is funded by NIH, NASA and pharmaceutical companies, includes studies of ethnic and genetic aspects of bone density, geometry and biomechanical characteristics as well as studies of the effects of spaceflight and pharmacologic interventions on these properties.Thomas Link, MD, has recently been recruited from Munich, Germany and will join the group in November. His tenure at UCSF, however, actually began several years ago. In 1997, Link spent a very successful year at the Magnetic Resonance Science Center and has continued to participate in collaborations with UCSF faculty since that time. This has led to his decision to make UCSF his permanent home. His research in partnership with David Newitt, PhD, senior scientist, Magnetic Resonance Development, and Sharmila Majumdar, PhD, includes clinical studies in osteoporosis and osteo-arthritis, in particular utilizing high resolution MRI. Link will be the clinical director for the MQIR and, along with Director Majumdar, will work on building and strengthening clinical research across both Parnassus and China Basin facilities. Also central to the MQIR research effort is a recent Bioengineering Research Parntership grant (Majumdar) from the NIH, which has led to collaborations with Jeffrey Lotz, Michael Ries, Marc Safran, and Ben Ma from Orthopedic Surgery, and Thomas Budinger from Bioengineering and UC Berkeley. The team focuses on developing state-of-the-art quantitative imaging techniques for studying the cartilage, in particular in the knee, and intervertebral discs in the spine. In addition, Majumdar’s research utilizes micro-computed tomography, infra-red spectroscopic imaging and magnetic resonance imaging to quantify microscopic bone structure in osteoporosis and osteo-arthritis. In an effort to push the realm of musculoskeletal imaging to include high resolution, morphological, and molecular imaging, her research also relies on extensive collaborations with John Kurhanwicz, Sarah Nelson and Dan Vigneron, all in Radiology. Majumdar’s group includes postdoctoral fellows, researchers, graduate students, medical students, visiting scholars, and residents.
Sven Prevrhal, PhD, trained in Erlangen, Germany, is currently developing a research program focused on technique development using CT, especially in orthopedic implant imaging. His research interests also include confocal laser microscopy, micro-computed tomography, and the clinical bone density assessment modality DXA (Dual X-ray Absorptiometry). As shown in Figure 1, Prevrhal has developed methods for measuring the thickness of the femoral cortex (outer bony shell), where the colored triangles in the image represent the local thickness in mm. This thickness is an important determinant of bone strength. Using DXA methods, John Shepherd, PhD, is focusing his research on pediatric bone density and assessment of body composition, as well as in assessing breast density (http://bbd.ucsf.edu). In collaboration with Steve Cummings (UCSF Coordinating Center) and Karla Kerlikowske (VA Medical Center), he has been instrumental in developing and leading the effort to utilize X-ray based methods for assessing breast density, which is one of the strongest risk factors for breast cancer (Figure 2). An exciting collaboration with Thea Tlsty (Pathology) on the biological basis of breast density is generating new techniques to probe breast tissue composition and link it to histological examinations. This project is currently being considered for a program project grant and involves both X-ray and NMR spectroscopy. Shepherd’s current interests also include the development of Electric Impedance Tomography methods to image and compositionally characterize breast tissue.
The MQIR will have access to multiple tools for imaging and analysis in musculoskeletal research. In addition to the departmental research whole body MRI systems, including an existing 1.5T system on campus and a new high field 3T system at China Basin, a state-of-the-art multi-detector research CT scanner at China Basin, the facilities and services include bone densitometry (DXA), micro-computed tomography (mCT), Fourier Transform Infrared Imaging (a new method for assessing tissue composition) and tissue density analyses. Leveraging the existing diversity of research programs with planned new recruitments at the faculty, researcher and student levels, the MQIR has an exhaustive schedule of proposed grant submissions. These include individual research grants, training grants, program projects and others. As the theme of the program is one of collaborative, symbiotic effort combined with creative, interdisciplinary basic science and clinically relevant projects, the coming year promises to open new horizons in musculoskeletal and quantitative imaging research. Research Directions:
Recent Key References: Brugel M, Link TM, Rummeny EJ, Lange P, Theisen J, Dobritz M. Assessment of vascular invasion in pancreatic head cancer with multislice spiral CT: value of multiplanar reconstructions. Eur Radiol 2004; 14(7):1188-95. Carbone LD, Tylavsky FA, Cauley JA, Harris TB, Lang TF, Bauer DC, Barrow KD, Kritchevsky SB. Association between bone mineral density and the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and aspirin: impact of cyclooxygenase selectivity. J Bone Miner Res 2003; 18:1795-802. David-Vauday E, Ghosh S, Ries M, Majumdar S. T2 relaxation time measurements in osteo-arthritis. Magn Res Imag 2004; 22:673-82. Dunn T, Lu Y, Jin H, Ries M, Majumdar S. MR quantification of cartilage T2 variation with severity of osteoarthritis in the knee. Radiology 2004; 232, 592-8. Eckstein F, Fischbeck M, Kuhn V, Link TM, Priemel M, Lochmuller EM. Determinants and heterogeneity of mechanical competence throughout the thoracolumbar spine of elderly women and men. Bone 2004; 35(2):364-74. Eckstein F, Wunderer C, Boehm H, Kuhn V, Priemel M, Link TM, Lochmuller EM. Reproducibility and side differences of mechanical tests for determining the structural strength of the proximal femur. J Bone Miner Res 2004; 19(3):379-85. Gamio-Caraballido J, Belonghi S, Majumdar S. Normalized cuts in 3D for spinal MRI segmentation. IEEE Trans Med Imaging 2004; 23(1):36-44. Hudelmaier M, Kuhn V, Lochmuller EM, Well H, Priemel M, Link TM, Eckstein F. Can geometry-based parameters from pQCT and material parameters from quantitative ultrasound (QUS) improve the prediction of radial bone strength over that by bone mass (DXA)? Osteoporos Int 2004; 15(5):375-81. Lang T, LeBlanc A, Evans H, Lu Y, Genant H, Yu A. Cortical and trabecular bone mineral loss from the spine and hip in long-duration spaceflight, J Bone Miner Res 2004; 19(6):1006-12. Lewiecki EM, Watts NB, McClung MR, Petak SM, Bachrach LK, Shepherd JA, Downs RW. Official positions of the international society for clinical densitometry. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2004; 89(8):3651-5. Lindsey CT, Narasimhan A, Adolfo JM, Jin H, Steinbach LS, Link T, Ries M, Majumdar S. Magnetic resonance evaluation of the interrelationship between articular cartilage and trabecular bone of the osteoarthritic knee. Osteoarthritis Cartilage 2004; 12(2):86-96. Link TM, Bauer J, Kollstedt A, Stumpf I, Hudelmaier M, Settles M, Majumdar S, Lochmüller EM, Eckstein F. Trabecular bone structure of the distal radius, the calcaneus and the spine – Which site predicts fracture status of the spine best? Invest Radiol 2004; 39:487-97, Link TM, Koppers BB, Licht T, Bauer J, Lu Y, Rummeny EJ. In vitro and in vivo spiral CT to determine bone mineral density: initial experience in patients at risk for osteoporosis. Radiology 2004; 231:805-11. Majumdar S, Issever AS, Burghardt A, Lotz J, Arfelli F, Rigon L, Heitner G, Menk R. Diffraction enhanced imaging of articular cartilage and comparison with micro computed tomography of the underlying bone structure. Eur Radiol 2004; 14:1440. Muehleman C, Majumdar S, et al. X-ray detection of structural orientation in human articular cartilage. Osteoarthritis Cartilage 2004; 12(2):97-105. Pothuaud L, Newitt D, MacDonald B, Majumdar S. In vivo application of the 3D-Line Skeleton Graph Analysis (LSGA) technique with high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging of trabecular bone structure. Osteoporos Int 2004; 15:411-419. Lang T, LeBlanc A, Evans H, Lu Y, Genant H, Yu A, 2004 Cortical and trabecular bone mineral loss from the spine and hip in long-duration spaceflight, J Bone Miner Res. Jun;19(6):1006-12. Black DM, Greenspan SL, Ensrud KE, Palermo L, McGowan JA, Lang TF, Garnero P, Bouxsein ML, Bilezikian JP, Rosen CJ; PaTH Study Investigators, The effects of parathyroid hormone and alendronate alone or in combination in postmenopausal osteoporosis, N Engl J Med. 2003 Sep 25;349(13):1207-15. |
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