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Medical imaging

Sleuthing tissue fingerprints

Nature volume 495, pages 184–185 (2013)Cite this article

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A type of data-acquisition sequence in magnetic resonance imaging has been developed that rapidly and robustly quantifies properties of imaged tissue by elucidating a characteristic signal fingerprint. See Article p.187

A conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan is designed to create contrast between tissue types. It does so on the basis of various physical properties that are related to the microenvironment of water molecules in the tissues. The resulting images are typically qualitative and merely represent a contrast that is weighted towards one tissue property or another. Although such qualitative images certainly contain clinically useful information, MRI scientists continue to search for methods that can efficiently quantify tissue properties. On page 187 of this issue, Ma et al.1 present a kind of MRI data-acquisition sequence and image-formation algorithm that avoids the standard approach of acquiring an image weighted towards a single tissue property. This innovative method is based on the collection of magnetic resonance 'fingerprints' that reflect the combined effect of multiple underlying tissue properties. The approach has the potential to make quantitative mapping of tissue properties feasible in the clinical setting and to lead to improved diagnoses.

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Figure 1: Magnetic resonance fingerprinting.

DAN MA & MARK GRISW OLD

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. E. Brian Welch is at the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, Tennessee 37232–2310, USA.,

    E. Brian Welch

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  1. E. Brian Welch
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Correspondence to E. Brian Welch.

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Welch, E. Sleuthing tissue fingerprints. Nature 495, 184–185 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/495184a

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