Dr. Altbach’s research group is focused on the development of novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques for improving the diagnosis of disease. We develop novel acquisition and reconstruction strategies and we work closely with clinicians to develop better and more efficient techniques aimed improving the diagnosis of heart disease and cancer. One of the major goals is to be able to derive parameters for the quantification of disease from data acquired within the time constraints of a clinical MRI examination. The idea is to complement the current qualitative-approach of clinical radiology with a quantitative or “parametric” approach. This should not only improve the accuracy in diagnosis but it should also allow radiologists to interpret data faster.
One of the major goals is to develop acquisition and reconstructions strategies that can yield quantitative parameters for the characterization of disease.

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS
(click on the project to learn more about it)

• Detection of lipid infiltration in the heart
• Fast T2 mapping of the abdomen and heart - Characterization of neoplasms
• Fast parametric imaging of the spine
• MR imaging and spectroscopy of prolonged ventricular fibrillation

Resources

State-of-the art equipment is available for research projects.

• Equipment available for clinical MRI research projects
  • General Electric Signa 3.0T VH/i MRI
  • General Electric Signa 1.5T Infinity NV/i CV/i
  • General Electric Signa 1.5T Horizon w Echospeed MRI
    
• Equipment available for pre-clinical MRI research projects
  • Bruker Biospec 7T 40cm-bore MRI/MRS
  • Bruker Biospec 4.7T 40cm-bore MRI/MRS

Training

Research projects provide training for students with a basic science background as well as for trainees with a medical background. Below is a list of past and current students and trainees involved in the various research projects.

Zhiqiang Li

• Electrical and Computer Engineering Ph.D. student, (graduated 2006)

Anantha Krishnan

• Electrical and Computer Engineering MSc student, (graduated 2007)

Christian Graff

• Applied Math Program, Ph.D. candidate.

Jeff Meade

• Optical Sciences Center, Ph.D. candidate

Negar Knowles

• Radiology Resident

Lisa Castellano

• Cardiology Fellow

Publications

Selected peer review papers (out of 35):

Altbach, M. I.; Mattingly, M. A.; Brown, M. F.; Gmitro, A. F. "Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Lipid Deposits in Human Atheroma via a Stimulated-Echo Diffusion-Weighted Technique." Magn. Reson. Med. 20, 319, 1991.

Trouard, T. P., Sabharwal, Y., Altbach, M. I., Gmitro, A. F. “Analysis and Comparison of Motion Correction Techniques in Diffusion Weighted Imaging.” J. Magn. Reson. Imag.,
6, 925-35, 1996.

Trouard, T. P., Altbach, M. I., Hunter, G. C., Eskelson, C. D., Gmitro, A. F. “MRI and NMR Spectroscopy of the Lipids of Atherosclerotic Plaque in Rabbits” Magn. Reson. Med. 38,19-26, 1997.

Trouard, T.P., Theilmann, R.J., Altbach, M.I., Gmitro, A.F., “High resolution diffusion imaging with DIFRADFSE (diffusion-weighted radial acquisition of data with fast spin echo) MRI, Magn. Reson. Med., 42, 11-18, 1999.

Galons, J.P., Altbach, M.I., Payne-Murietta, G., Taylor, C.W., Gillies, R.J., “Chemotherapeutic response in Human Xenografts monitored by diffusion-weighted MRI”, Neoplasia, 1, 113-17, 1999.

Van de Walle, R., Barrett, H. H., Myers, K. J., Altbach, M. I., Desplanques, B., Gmitro, A.F., Cornelis, J., Lemahieu, I., “Reconstruction of MR images from data acquired on a general non-regular grid by pseudoinverse calculation” IEEE Trans. Med. Imaging, 19, 1160-7, 2000.

Altbach, M.I., Trouard, T.P., Van de Walle, R., Theilmann RJ., Clarkson E. Barrett, H.H., Gmitro, A. F., “Chemical shift imaging utilizing the positional shifts along the readout gradient direction” IEEE Trans. Med. Imaging, 20, 1156-66, 2001.

Altbach, M.I., Outwater, E.K., Trouard, T.P., Krupinski, E.A., Theilmann, R.J., Stopeck, A.T., Kono, M., Gmitro, A. F., “A radial fast spin-echo method for T2-weighted Imaging and T2 Mapping of the Liver”, J. Magn. Reson. Imaging, 16, 179-89, 2002.
[ PDF (1543 KB) ]

Theilmann RJ, Gmitro AF, Altbach MI, Trouard TP. “View Ordering in Radial Fast Spin-Echo Imaging”, Magn Reson Med, 51, 768-774, 2004.

Altbach MI, Li Z, Bilgin A, Marcus FI, Trouard TP, Gmitro AF. “A Novel Radial MRI Technique for Obtaining High-resolution Images of the Heart with Variable Contrast from a Single k-Space Data Set”, J Cardiovasc Magn Reson, 6, 91-2, 2004.

Berg RA, Sorrell V, Kern KB, Hilwig RW, Altbach MI, Hayes MH, Bates KB, Ewy GA. “Magnetic Resonance Imaging during Untreated Ventricular Fibrillation Reveals Prompt Right Ventricular Overdistention without Left Ventricular Volume Loss”, Circulation 2005;111:1136-1140.
[ PDF (339 KB) ]

Sarlls J, Newbould R, Altbach MI, Gmitro AF, Seeger J, Trouard TP. Isotropic Diffusion Weighting in radial Fast Spin Echo (Radial-FSE) MRI. Magn Reson Med, 53, 1347-1354, 2005.

Gmitro AF, Kono M, Theilmann RJ, Altbach MI, Trouard TP. Radial Acquisition of Data (RAD) GRASE: Implementation and Clinical Applications. Magn Reson Med 53, 1363-1371, 2005.

Altbach MI, Bilgin A, Li Z, Clarkson EW, Gmitro AF. Processing of Radial Fast-spin Echo Data for Obtaining T2 Estimates from a Single K-Space Data Set. Magn Reson Med 54:549–559, 2005.
[ PDF (887 KB) ]

Sorrell VL, Altbach MI, Kern KB, Squire SW, Hilwig RW, Hayes MH, Ewy GA, Berg RA. “Continuous Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging during Untreated Ventricular Fibrillation.” Circulation, 2005; 111: e294.
[ PDF (217 KB) ]

Altbach MI, Li Z, Bilgin A, Marcus FI, Sorrell VL, Gmitro AF, Bluemke DA. “Interleaved Acquisition of Lipid and Water Images of the Heart Using a Double-Inversion Fast Spin-Echo Method.” Magn Reson Med 54:1562–1568, 2005.
[ PDF (296 KB) ]

Altbach MI, Castellano L, Squire SW, Kudithipudi V, Sorrell VL, “Cardiac MRI is complementary to Echocardiography in the Assessment of Cardiac Masses”, Echocardiography, Guest Editorial, Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Special Edition, 0000, 2006.
[ PDF (448 KB) ]

Sorrell VL, Altbach MI, Kudithipudi V, Squire SW, Goldberg S, Klewer, S. “Cardiac MRI is an important complementary tool to Doppler echocardiography in the management of patients with pulmonary regurgitation” Echocardiography Journal, Guest Editorial, Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Special Edition, 0000, 2006.

Sorrell VL, Bhatt RD, Berg RA, Squire S, Kudithipudi V, Hilwig RW, Altbach MI, Kern KB, Ewy GA. Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation of Sustained Ventricular Fibrillation in a Swine Model-with a Focus on the Electrical Phase. Resuscitation, 2007.

Li Z, Gmitro AF, Bilgin A, and Altbach MI. Fast Decomposition of Water and Lipid Using a GRASE Technique with the IDEAL Algorithm Magn Reson Med 57:1047–1057, 2007.
[ PDF (1044 KB) ]

Altbach MI, Characterization of Liver Neoplasms: A Radial MRI Method Handbook of Imaging Technology, Cancer Imaging Series, Editor E. Hayat (in press).