Magnetic Resonance FingerprintingA new dimension in quantitative MRI

MRF is a potentially disruptive new approach to quantitative data acquisition, while reducing complexity in imaging.

MRF is designed to provide quantitative multiparametric maps with a high level of robustness and reproducibility. This type of signal acquisition could enable a new level of comparability and consistency in MRI.
Through multiparametric maps acquired simultaneously, MRF is designed to enable tissue characterization with quantitative parameters to help detect and analyze early tissue changes.
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) exclusively partners with Siemens Healthcare in order to further refine this highly promising method of quantitative tissue analysis. 

The MRF technique does not acquire traditional clinical images, but instead is designed to gather tissue information based on the signal evolution for voxels. Acquisition parameters are varied in a pseudorandom fashion, and the signal evolutions are recorded and collected in a database or ‘dictionary’. After the acquisition, a pattern recognition algorithm is used to find the dictionary entry that best represents the acquired signal evolution of each voxel. The signal evolutions equate in many ways to ‘fingerprints’ of tissue properties, which, like the identification of human fingerprints in forensics, can only be analyzed by comparing them with a file containing all known fingerprints. The dictionary is equivalent to the database where all the known fingerprints are stored, together with all the information relative to each person. In the forensic case, each fingerprint points to the feature identification of the associated person such as name, height, weight, eye color, date of birth, etc. In the case of MRF, each fingerprint in the dictionary points to the MR related identification features of the associated tissue (such as T1, T2, relative spin density, B0, diffusion, etc.).
 

"A potentially new, disruptive approach to clinical diagnostic imaging with the potential to quantitatively detect and analyze complex changes that can represent physical alterations of a substance or early indications of disease."¹

MRF has the potential to be less sensitive to motion in comparison to conventional MR acquisition techniques.

Case Study: MRF Imaging of the Brain

Siegfried Trattnig et al., Medical University Vienna, Austria

MRF has the potential to provide quantitative parameters, to help differentiate tumors in the brain.

Asymptomatic patient with Multiple Sclerosis.

MRF is designed to acquire all information in a single scan and to provide:

• multiple quantitative maps
• perfect coregistration of different maps
• acquisition in a single breath-hold scan

This cannot be achieved by conventional methods that require multiple, separate scans.

Patient with prostate cancer in the left peripheral zone with reduced T1 and T2 values in MRF maps.

MRF case study of biopsy confirmed low grade prostate cancer

(Gleason score 3+3).

Cardiac MRF compared to conventional mapping techniques: MRF has the potential to provide similar values to current quantitative methods.

Clinical Benefits of MRF in Brain Tumors

Meiyun Wang, MD, PhD; et al. (Henan Provincial People’s Hospital & the People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China)

Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting –
The Future of Quantitative MR Neuroimaging

Gregor Kasprian, M.D.; Victor Schmidbauer, M.D.

(Dept of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria)

Quantitative and Intelligent MRI for Underserved Populations

Nicole Seiberlich (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA)

Clinical Benefits of MR Fingerprinting

Meiyun Wang; Henan Provincial People's Hospital, China

Novelties in MR Fingerprinting

Gregor Körzdörfer, Siemens Healthineers, Erlangen, Germany

Application of MRF in Epilepsy

Dan Ma, et al., Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

MR Fingerprinting in the Brain – Precise Quantitative MRI

Gregor Koerzdoerfer, Ph.D., Siemens Healthineers Lunch Symposium ESMRMB 2019, Rotterdam, NL

Exploring New Frontiers in MRI

Sascha Daeuber, Ph.D., Siemens Healthineers Lunch Symposium ESMRMB 2019, Rotterdam, NL

MR Fingerprinting. A New Path for Clinical Quantitative MR

Dan Ma (Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA), ISMRM Lunch Symposium, Montréal, Canada, 2019

Tissue Segmentation and Partial Volume Estimation with Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting

Dan Ma, et al., Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

Magnetic Resonance Field Fingerprinting (MRF)

Mathias Nittka, Ph.D., et al., Siemens Healthineers, Erlangen, Germany
 

Overview of MR Fingerprinting

Vikas Gulani et al., Dept. of Radiology, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, USA
 

7T MR and MR Fingerprinting – Will They Shape the Future of MR?

Siegfried Trattnig, Dept. of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, MR Centre of Excelence, Medical University of Vienna, Austria

(MRF starts at 14:45)

New Application Opportunities Using MR Fingerprinting

Mark Griswold, Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, USA),
9th MAGNETOM World Summit in Oxfordshire, UK

MR Fingerprint Imaging at 7T*; the New Way of Imaging!

Mark Griswold, Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, USA),
4th Ultra-High Field User Meeting, Vienna, Austria