Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a 'go-to' reference for methods and applications of quantitative magnetic resonance imaging, with specific sections on Relaxometry, Perfusion, and Diffusion. Each section will start with an explanation of the basic techniques for mapping the tissue property in question, including a description of the challenges that arise when using these basic approaches. For properties which can be measured in multiple ways, each of these basic methods will be described in separate chapters. Following the basics, a chapter in each section presents more advanced and recently proposed techniques for quantitative tissue property mapping, with a concluding chapter on clinical applications. The reader will learn: - The basic physics behind tissue property mapping - How to implement basic pulse sequences for the quantitative measurement of tissue properties - The strengths and limitations to the basic and more rapid methods for mapping the magnetic relaxation properties T1, T2, and T2* - The pros and cons for different approaches to mapping perfusion - The methods of Diffusion-weighted imaging and how this approach can be used to generate diffusion tensor - maps and more complex representations of diffusion - How flow, magneto-electric tissue property, fat fraction, exchange, elastography, and temperature mapping are performed - How fast imaging approaches including parallel imaging, compressed sensing, and Magnetic Resonance - Fingerprinting can be used to accelerate or improve tissue property mapping schemes - How tissue property mapping is used clinically in different organs - Structured to cater for MRI researchers and graduate students with a wide variety of backgrounds - Explains basic methods for quantitatively measuring tissue properties with MRI - including T1, T2, perfusion, diffusion, fat and iron fraction, elastography, flow, susceptibility - enabling the implementation of pulse sequences to perform measurements - Shows the limitations of the techniques and explains the challenges to the clinical adoption of these traditional methods, presenting the latest research in rapid quantitative imaging which has the possibility to tackle these challenges - Each section contains a chapter explaining the basics of novel ideas for quantitative mapping, such as compressed sensing and Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting-based approaches

We have entered an exciting period in the study of multiple sclerosis and its treatment. Central to this progress has been the introduction of magnetic reso nance techniques. When Young and his colleagues published the first images of the brain in multiple sclerosis at the end of 1981, it was at once obvious that magnetic resonance imaging would playa major role in diagnosis. Intuitively one felt that it would also have a role in increasing our understanding of the pathogenesis of the disease and in monitoring treatment. And so it has proved. Important problems however remain, perhaps the most important of which at present is the weak predictive power of standard magnetic resonance ima ging methods in determining the possibility of progression of impairment and disability. Recently, there have been advances which promise to overcome some of these problems, but decisions about what approach to adopt in selecting patients for clinical trials and which techniques to use in monitoring treatment during their course are still difficult. In this book, Dr. Filippi and his colleagues have assembled an outstanding group of contributors whose work is central to the progress that is being made. The coverage of the issues involved in the use of magnetic resonance techniques in assessing therapeutic effect is comprehensive and, though the field is chan ging rapidly, the principles and much of the detail in the book are likely to have lasting value.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic and often disabling disease of the nervous system, affecting about 1 million people worldwide. Even though it has been known for over a hundred years, no cause or cure has yet been discovered-but now there is hope. New therapies have been shown to slow the disease progress in some patients, and the pace of discoveries about the cellular machinery of the brain and spinal cord has accelerated. This book presents a comprehensive overview of multiple sclerosis today, as researchers seek to understand its processes, develop therapies that will slow or halt the disease and perhaps repair damage, offer relief for specific symptoms, and improve the abilities of MS patients to function in their daily lives. The panel reviews existing knowledge and identifies key research questions, focusing on: Research strategies that have the greatest potential to understand the biological mechanisms of recovery and to translate findings into specific strategies for therapy. How people adapt to MS and the research needed to improve the lives of people with MS. Management of disease symptoms (cognitive impairment, depression, spasticity, vision problems, and others). The committee also discusses ways to build and financially support the MS research enterprise, including a look at challenges inherent in designing clinical trials. This book will be important to MS researchers, research funders, health care advocates for MS research and treatment, and interested patients and their families.

Written by world-renowned scientists, the volume provides a state-of-the-art on the most recent MRI techniques related to MS, and it is an indispensable tool for all those working in this field. The context in which this book exists is that there is an increasing perception that modern MR methodologies should be more extensively employed in clinical trials to derive innovative information.

Recent years have witnessed dramatic advances in the development and use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques that can provide quantitative measures with some degree of pathological specificity for the heterogeneous substrates of multiple sclerosis (MS). Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is one of the most promising of these techniques. Thanks to MRS, axonal damage is no longer considered an end-stage phenomenon typical of only the most destructive lesions and the most unfortunate cases, but rather as a major component of the MS pathology of lesions and normal-appearing white matter at all the phases of the disease. This new concept is rapidly changing our understanding of MS pathophysiology and, as a consequence, the therapeutic strategies to modify the disease course favorably. Many of the authors have pionereed the use of MRS in MS, thus contributing to the foundation of the "axonal hypothesis".

Quantitative MRI of the Spinal Cord is the first book focused on quantitative MRI techniques with specific application to the human spinal cord. This work includes coverage of diffusion-weighted imaging, magnetization transfer imaging, relaxometry, functional MRI, and spectroscopy. Although these methods have been successfully used in the brain for the past 20 years, their application in the spinal cord remains problematic due to important acquisition challenges (such as small cross-sectional size, motion, and susceptibility artifacts). To date, there is no consensus on how to apply these techniques; this book reviews and synthesizes state-of-the-art methods so users can successfully apply them to the spinal cord. Quantitative MRI of the Spinal Cord introduces the theory behind each quantitative technique, reviews each theory's applications in the human spinal cord and describes its pros and cons, and suggests a simple protocol for applying each quantitative technique to the spinal cord. - Chapters authored by international experts in the field of MRI of the spinal cord - Contains "cooking recipes—examples of imaging parameters for each quantitative technique—designed to aid researchers and clinicians in using them in practice - Ideal for clinical settings

This book comprehensively reviews the current state of clinical trial methods in multiple sclerosis treatment, providing investigators, sponsors and specialists with current knowledge of outcome measures and study designs for disease and symptom management. The status of the rapidly evolving field of disease-modifying drugs is presented, with emphasis on the most promising therapies currently being tested. Experts discuss disease and symptom management for MS subtypes, including neuromyelitis optica and pediatric MS. In addition, key scientific advances in MS pathology, genetics, immunology and epidemiology are presented. The fourth edition has been extensively revised, featuring more than 50% new material. All chapters have been substantially updated to provide current information on rapidly evolving topics and this volume contains 15 new chapters, reflecting the growth of the field in recent years. This book is an essential reference for practitioners caring for MS patients, investigators planning or conducting clinical trials, and clinical trial sponsors.