On December 20th, 2023, Gian Franco Piredda from Siemens Healthineers, shared his talk on “Towards personalized detection of brain abnormalities using quantitative MRI: patient-specific analysis of T1 values at 7T” at the Campus Biotech in Geneva.
Insights
Quantitative MRI (qMRI) allows moving from relative MR contrast information, which is susceptible to various confounding factors, to – ideally – absolute measures of physical properties. This shift provides the means for a more precise characterization of tissues and facilitates a deeper understanding of subtle microstructural changes induced by diseases. However, to fully exploit the potential of quantitative maps, reference values in healthy tissue are required, enabling the comparison of tissue properties in individual patients against those considered healthy. On this basis, this presentation focused on a methodology designed for the single-patient analysis of quantitative T1 values at 7T by establishing an atlas of reference T1 values from a healthy cohort. Gian Franco highlighted the capability of this method to detect subtle T1 alterations that may not be visible in conventional MRI contrasts while emphasizing the relevance and applicability of the proposed method in a clinical context.
Gian Franco Piredda, PhD
On-Site Scientist Campus Biotech, Siemens Healthineers
Gian Franco Piredda is currently working for the Advanced Clinical Imaging Technology (ACIT) group of Siemens Healthineers as an on-site MR research scientist at Campus Biotech, Geneva. He is an alumnus of EPFL, having completed his PhD studies under the supervision of Prof. Jean-Philippe Thiran and Dr. Tobias Kober. His research revolves around quantitative MRI applications, spanning from the design of MR sequences to the development of approaches to ensure the integration of this cutting-edge technology into clinical practice.