Abstract #0533

MTR at 3T in the Hippocampus Validation of Automated Post-Analysis & Comparison of Quantification Metrics

Shawn Sidharthan¹, Ryan Joseph Hutten¹, Christopher Glielmi², Hongyan Du³, Fiona Malone¹, Ann Ragin^1,4, Robert R. Edelman¹, Ying Wu^1,5

¹Radiology, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, IL, USA; ²MR Research & Development, Siemens Healthcare, Chicago, IL, USA; ³Center for Clinical Research Informatics, NorthShore University HealthSystem, Evanston, IL, USA; ⁴Radiology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA; ⁵Radiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

Magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) may detect subtle microscopic changes in the hippocampus before macroscopic anomalies occur. This modality proves to be a crucial tool when evaluating patients with progressive neurological pathologies such as Alzheimers disease. In this study, reliability and reproducibility were analyzed for high-resolution MTR at 3T in different metrics (mean and histogram approach) and compared to the more conventional MR volumetric method in the hippocampus. Mean and histogram MTR approach derived from automated post-processing methods, provided excellent scan-rescan results in comparison to volumetry. The results indicate MTR and volumetric analysis to be a useful tool for future studies.