Week 3: Optimizing MRI for better quality images

This week's routine was similar to my first week here. On Tuesday and Wednesday we went to Columbia to evaluate cases with Dr. Prince. Most of them have to do with lesions in the liver or the kidney. The ones that we are most familiar with are hepatocellular carcinoma and polycistic kidney disease. We go to meetings with other radiologists and pathologists to assess the nature of tumors and evaluate the possibility for a liver transplant for a determined patient. We also evaluate tons of cases everyday which has trained me enough to know at least where are the different organs of the body. It still difficult for me to read MRI images, but I think I have improved through time.

On my project side, I have completed the analysis of patients with tissue expander (TE) who have chest deformity. I calculated total volume of chest deformity, angle of deflection of the sternum, amount of fat in the back and the front, and imaging parameters. We have a total of 39 patients with TE and around 55 with breast implants, the last one to see if the chest deformity resolves after the implant has been positioned.
Today we got to image two patients with TE. This was great because it allowed us to play with the MRI parameters to get the best image possible and reduce the image artifact. We succeeded! We still need to refine our method to get better quality images so that is why we are also doing experiments with phantoms in which we varied bandwidth, slice thickness and frequency encoding matrix. We have seen that the bandwidth has a significant effect in the size of the artifact provoked by the magnet (it actually distorts the whole image if we decrease it), while the other two parameters don't change much the image quality. We performed this experiments with one type of TE phantom but we still need to do the same experiments with the other two left (we have three commercial models). I will also probably get into the MRI to serve as a control (healthy patient with no expander), that should
be really exciting since it would be my first time inside a MRI!

On the fun side, I got to see Phantom of the Opera on broadway. It was such an amazing experience! Definitely worth it. Also, my family has come to visit me so I've trying to show them around as much as possible. I was really happy to see them and share my life in NYC with them. Tomorrow we are planning to go to the statue of liberty and on Sunday probably a museum and central park. Hope they enjoy!