OVERVIEW

International MRIlab Module I and Module II- A Journey From The Basics To Advanced Methodologies of MRI is organized by Excellence in Medical Education (EXCEMED).

Dates:
• Module I: Siena, 7-8 June 2022
• Intermediary Webinar: 5 July 2022
• Module II: Barcelona, 27-29 September 2022

Target Audience:
• Young neurologists/ neuroradiologists
• Professionals with particular interest in quantitative MRI applied to research in multiple sclerosis.

Overview:
In demyelinating and neurodegenerative disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) supports diagnostic and therapeutic decisions, assesses prognosis, and improves understanding of the disease. Standardization and optimization of MRI acquisition protocols and analysis are therefore critical, both in clinical and research settings. Quantitative methods assessing lesions and atrophy are far less subjective for measuring disease burden in MS, compared with visual inspection, and are moving from research into clinical settings. Structural damage is predictive of motor and cognitive disability and needs to be accurately quantified, also in order to measure response to treatment. Several methods for imaging post-processing have been developed over time with different strengths, limits and scopes. However, whereas quantitative MRI measures have been extensively used in clinical studies and as endpoints in clinical trials, their introduction in the clinical setting has been difficult due to a number of methodological issues.

EXCEMED together with the team of the University of Siena - Experimental Neurology Unit Department of Medicine, Surgery and Neurosciences- and with the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona - Section of Neuroradiology, Department of Radiology designed the MRI Lab - an international -training period for young neurologists and neuroradiologists particularly interested in quantitative neuroimaging applied to research in demyelinating and neurodegenerative disorders.

The Lab is structured as follows:
The first module: will be performed in Siena and will include lectures that review the relevance of different MRI features and metrics in multiple sclerosis, and on technical aspects on brain and spinal MRI acquisition. The last part of this first module will include an introduction on how to use different academic tools for quantitative assessment of MR images. After this first module, the attendees should write (in pairs) a research study proposal using quantitative MRI data, which will be evaluated by the course faculty. ?

The second module will be organized in Barcelona, and will consist of a hands-on workshop in which all the attendees will have the possibility to learn and use different post-processing tools. After this module, the attendees will have access to a sample of MRI studies from multiple sclerosis patients, from which they will have to perform a quantitative analysis (in pairs) based on a common research project, which will be evaluated by the course faculty. ?

An intermediate Webinar will be organized in which the attendees and course faculty will analyse the studies performed by the attendees. ? A remote tutoring programme provided by the members of the scientific committee and their teams will support the trainees in their research activities between the two modules by a message board on the MRILab dedicated page which will be accessible to all the participants to post questions and doubts.

Learning objectives:
Through a series of different educational formats - both live and online - the MRILab, facing basic and advanced methodological key aspects related to the use of quantitative measures of lesions and atrophy, aims to achieve the following learning objectives:
• Illustrate the main issues in the standardization and optimization of MRI acquisition protocols
• Describe how to facilitate image post-processing
• Discuss strengths and limits of currently used software packages for image quantification
• Deliver full analysis of lesion burden and atrophy in MRI samples