# Concurrent High-Speed fMRI and Diffusion Tensor MRSI

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO HEALTH SCIS CTR · 2020 · $48,702

## Abstract

Summary/Abstract
 Recent advances in MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and functional MRI
(fMRI) have the potential to enhance the clinical utility of presurgical mapping to aid in the diagnosis, treatment
planning and surgical resection of brain neoplasms. Diffusion tensor spectroscopic imaging (DTSI) can provide
unique information on intracellular properties, such as viscosity, cell swelling, restriction in subcellular structures,
and cytoplasmic streaming that may help to characterize infiltration and inflammatory processes. DTSI
complements recently developed Q-space trajectory imaging (QTI) of tissue water, which can measure tumor
specific abnormalities in microscopic anisotropy and isotropic heterogeneity not seen in linearly encoded
diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Resting state fMRI (rsfMRI) is a promising task-free whole brain approach
complementing task-based fMRI (tfMRI) and extending mapping of eloquent cortex to patients with impairment.
Evaluating the individual and joint tissue and functional specificity of these advanced MRSI technologies and
their clinical utility for presurgical mapping in patients with brain tumors is of considerable interest. However,
integration of DTSI with QTI and fMRI is been hampered by long scan times and motion sensitivity of DTSI, which
prevents routine clinical use.
 The primary objective of this proposal is to develop a method to reduce motion sensitivity of DTSI using
single-shot encoding, to integrate DTSI and high-speed fMRI into a single pulse sequence to reduce long scan
times in multi-modal presurgical mapping, and to validate this approach in healthy adults and in patients with
brain tumors. A secondary objective is to assess the individual and joint sensitivity and specificity of DTSI and
QTI for tissue characterization. Our preliminary results using Proton-Echo-Planar-Spectroscopic-Imaging
(PEPSI) at 3 Tesla demonstrate (a) the feasibility of mapping the age dependence of metabolite diffusion in
children and adults, (b) presurgical mapping with high-speed fMRI and fast short TE 3D MRSI in patients with
brain tumors, and (c) proof-of-concept of simultaneous fMRI and MRSI in a single scan. The rationale of this
research is that multi-modal presurgical mapping provides complementary biomarkers for improving sensitivity
and specificity of characterizing tumor tissue status and tumor boundaries in relation to eloquent cortex,
complementing surgical decision making and prediction of functional and oncological outcomes.
 If successful, this research will promote integration of advanced MRSI into clinical brain mapping protocols to
study novel tissue-specific biomarkers and their association with pathology.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9949682
- **Project number:** 5R21CA241714-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO HEALTH SCIS CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Stefan Posse
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $48,702
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-06-10 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9949682

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9949682, Concurrent High-Speed fMRI and Diffusion Tensor MRSI (5R21CA241714-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9949682. Licensed CC0.

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