Final Technical Report for DOE Grant DE-FG02-08CH11515
- University of Vermont
The year 2008 resulted in 99 scans that were funded through NIH agencies. An additional 43 MRI scans were funded by industry. Over 250 scans were acquired by various investigators as pilot data to be used for future grant applications. While these numbers are modest in comparison to most busy research MRI Centers, they are in line with that of a newly established MRI research facility. The initial 12-18 months of operation were primarily dedicated to establishing new IRB approved research studies, and acquiring pilot data for future grant applications. During the year 2009 the MRI Center continued to show positive growth with respect to funded studies and the number of scan sessions. The number of NIH sponsored scans increased to 242 and the number of industry funded studies climbed to 81. This more than doubled our numbers of funded scans over the previous year. In addition, 398 scans were acquired as pilot data; most of which were fMRI's. The MRI Center continued to expand with additional researchers who were interested in probing the brain's response to chronic pain. Other studies looked at regions of brain activation in patients with impulsivity disorders; including smokers. A large majority of the imaging studies were focused on the brain; however, the MRI Center continued to accommodate the needs of various types of investigators, who studied various types of human pathology. Studies of porcine cardiac function and myocardial perfusion were performed. Another study of ultra-fast acute abdominal MRI in children was underway; eventually leading to publication in AJR. These non-neuro type research projects allowed the MRI Center to expand upon the depth and breadth of service that has now become available to researchers at UVM. The UVM MRI Center became the first clinical/research site in North America to install dual radio frequency (RF) amplifiers on a 3T MRI system. The use of dual RF amplifiers helps to eliminate standing wave artifacts that are prevalent at 3T. Standing wave artifacts often rendered spine or abdominal 3T MR images to be poor quality or unreadable prior to the availability of multi-transmit. A research collaboration agreement with Philips Healthcare, Best, Netherlands allowed our site to have first use of the technology; while at the same time giving us the opportunity to provide critical feedback to Philips Healthcare about our experiences with multi-transmit. This dramatically improved image quality for 3T MRI sites across the US and the world. Philips has stationed an onsite MRI physicist at UVM to work collaboratively with researchers at the University of Vermont on various MRI related projects. He has worked collaboratively with UVM investigators toward the design and publication of several journal articles and abstracts during his time at UVM. As the MRI Center advanced through the year 2010, an additional MRI technologist and a MRI physicist were hired to accommodate the increased demand for MRI scanning and data processing expertise. This enabled us to not only expand our hours of operation; it also helped to augment our MRI pulse programming and data processing capabilities. Studies that used state-of-the-art MRI techniques like pseudo continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) allowed researchers from the Department of Obstetrics and Reproductive Services to obtain non-contrast brain perfusion values of women to help them to better understand the effects of preeclampsia. At year-end 2010 the MRI Center completed 303 NIH funded and 198 industry funded scans. The number of no charge pilot scans decreased to 189.
- Research Organization:
- University of Vermont and State Agricultural College
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-08CH11515
- OSTI ID:
- 1090041
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-UVM-11515
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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