Quantification of Free and Bound Water Concentrations in Human Cortical Bone Emp...
Quantification of Free and Bound Water Concentrations in Human Cortical Bone Employing Hybrid Hard tissue MRI Towards Comprehensive Osteoporosis Assessment
Osteoporosis weakens bones and increases the risk of unexpected fractures. Worldwide, it causes over 8.9M fractures annually. Cortical bone consists of 3 major parts; minerals, organic matrix and water. Bone Mineral Density (BMD)...
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Información proyecto ROCHESTER
Duración del proyecto: 41 meses
Fecha Inicio: 2020-04-17
Fecha Fin: 2023-09-30
Líder del proyecto
UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
No se ha especificado una descripción o un objeto social para esta compañía.
TRL
4-5
Presupuesto del proyecto
225K€
Fecha límite de participación
Sin fecha límite de participación.
Descripción del proyecto
Osteoporosis weakens bones and increases the risk of unexpected fractures. Worldwide, it causes over 8.9M fractures annually. Cortical bone consists of 3 major parts; minerals, organic matrix and water. Bone Mineral Density (BMD) is the most widespread marker to assess bone quality. There is recent evidence, however, that bone mineralisation offers only an incomplete view of bone quality. In turn, bone water (including free and bound water molecules) does convey richer information about bone quality by probing both bone porosity and the organic matrix.
We propose to develop a novel diagnostic imaging technique based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) that offers a comprehensive assessment of cortical bone quality and osteoporosis. The quantification of free and bound water molecules in cortical bone will be done in vivo as their alternation are potential biomarkers of the cortical bone quality. We will use hybrid hard-tissue MRI to capture information from short transverse-relaxation time (T2) species. We will develop MRI
strategies that will go beyond the state-of-the-art in imaging bone tissue (herein referred to as hard-tissue MRI employing novel pulse sequences from the ultra-short echo-time (UTE) family. A key novelty lies in the hybridisation of UTE/short echo time (STE) acquisitions. By solving a set of coupled equations derived from these acquisitions using machine-learning techniques, we will define new quantitative imaging biomarkers associated with cortical bone free and bound water concentrations.
The biomarkers will improve diagnosis of osteoporosis and alleviate its burden on healthcare systems (€37Bn cost to EU in 2010). It offers further potential in assessing bone development in pediatric imaging where ionizing and invasive methods cannot be employed. The project brings together expertise in bone MRI from a senior incoming fellow with the world-class expertise in biomedical image analysis and bone research as well as a pioneer centre in clinical.