MRE Use in Skeletal Muscle Biomechanical Property Characterization  

Researcher(s)

  • Abigail Caridi, Biomedical Engineering, University of Delaware

Faculty Mentor(s)

  • Curtis Johnson, Biomedical Engineering, University of Delaware

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a noninvasive imaging technique that can produce high-resolution anatomical images of tissue structure. These imaging sequences can be modified through the application of MR elastography (MRE) to quantify in vivo tissue mechanical properties. This is achieved by delivering vibrations to a specific region of tissue during an MRI scan. The displacement, induced by the oscillations of the actuator, is then mapped using motion encoding gradients, and a nonlinear inversion algorithm is applied to calculate the mechanical properties of the tissue. While current MRE techniques are used to characterize mechanics in the liver and brain, they are thought to apply to many other areas of the body, including types of skeletal muscle. This calls for the establishment of protocols allowing for the quantification and analysis of lower back and thigh muscle mechanical properties in vivo using MRE. These new findings are incredibly important for the characterization of low back pain through spinal muscle motion, as well as thigh muscle, for use in blast injury mechanics. 

Relevant scholars have made significant progress in the field of MRE, developing high spatial resolution scans in the human brain and anisotropic mechanical properties of human calf muscles. Combining these methods with high-resolution MRE and anisotropic mechanical inversion allows for the measurement of the mechanical properties of the spinal muscles using MRE with a good signal-to-noise ratio and ultimately shows feasibility in healthy volunteers.