Matteo Cencini

Università di Pisa | UNIPI · Department of Physics "E.Fermi"

PurposeTo compare the characteristics detected by 7Tesla (7 T) MR and the histological composition of ex-vivo specimens from lesions diagnosed at preoperative CT scan as Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC).Materials and methodsTen pancreatic specimens were examined. The 7 T imaging protocol included both morphologic and quantitative sequences;...

Idiopathic rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) is a prodromal stage of α-synucleinopathies, such as Parkinson's disease (PD), which are characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra, associated with abnormal iron load. The assessment of presymptomatic biomarkers predicting the onset of neurodegenerative d...

Relaxation times and morphological information are fundamental magnetic resonance imaging-derived metrics of the human brain that reflect the status of the underlying tissue. Magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) enables simultaneous acquisition of T1 and T2 maps inherently aligned to the anatomy, allowing whole-brain relaxometry and morphometry...

The non-invasive quantification of iron stores via Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) could play an important role in the diagnosis and the differential diagnosis of atypical Parkinsonisms. However, the susceptibility (χ) values measured via QSM depend on echo time (TE). This effect relates to the microstructural organization within the voxe...

Voluntary and involuntary patient motion is a major problem for data quality in clinical routine of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). It has been thoroughly investigated and, yet it still remains unresolved. In quantitative MRI, motion artifacts impair the entire temporal evolution of the magnetization and cause errors in parameter estimation. Here...

Purpose Advanced MRI-based biomarkers offer comprehensive and quantitative information for the evaluation and characterization of brain tumors. In this study, we report initial clinical experience in routine glioma imaging with a novel, fully 3D multiparametric quantitative transient-state imaging (QTI) method for tissue characterization based on T...

We explore the application of concepts developed in High Energy Physics (HEP) in a field of high social impact, i.e. advanced medical data analysis. More specifically, we focus on shortening the reconstruction times of a multi-parametric quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technique: Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting (MRF). This technique...

Purpose: To compare the bias and inherent reliability of the quantitative (T1 and T2 ) imaging metrics generated from the Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting (MRF) technique using the ISMRM/NIST system phantom in an international multi-center setting. Method: ISMRM/NIST MRI system phantom provides standard reference T1 and T2 relaxation values (ve...

Magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) is highly promising as a quantitative MRI technique due to its accuracy, robustness, and efficiency. Previous studies have found high repeatability and reproducibility of 2D MRF acquisitions in the brain. Here, we have extended our investigations to 3D MRF acquisitions covering the whole brain using spiral pr...

The study focuses on radiological-pathological correlation between imaging of ex vivo samples obtained by a 7-T scanner and histological examination. The specimens will be derived from native explanted cirrhotic livers, liver grafts excluded from donation because of severe steatosis, and primary pancreatic tumours. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)...

We explore the application of concepts developed in High Energy Physics (HEP) for advanced medical data analysis. Our study case is a problem with high social impact: clinically-feasible Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting (MRF). MRF is a new, quantitative, imaging technique that replaces multiple qualitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) exams wi...

Three-dimensional (3D) Magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) permits whole-brain volumetric quantification of T1 and T2 relaxation values, potentially replacing conventional T1-weighted structural imaging for common brain imaging analysis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the repeatability and reproducibility of 3D MRF in evaluating brain co...

Novel methods for quantitative, transient-state multiparametric imaging are increasingly being demonstrated for assessment of disease and treatment efficacy. Here, we build on these by assessing the most common Non-Cartesian readout trajectories (2D/3D radials and spirals), demonstrating efficient anti-aliasing with a k-space view-sharing technique...

Purpose To obtain three‐dimensional (3D), quantitative and motion‐robust imaging with magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF). Methods Our acquisition is based on a 3D spiral projection k‐space scheme. We compared different orderings of trajectory interleaves in terms of rigid motion‐correction robustness. In all tested orderings, we considered th...

Novel methods for quantitative, multiparametric imaging are increasingly being demonstrated for assessment of disease and treatment efficacy, but some challenges remain. The purpose of our work is to obtain 3D multiparametric maps of the brain using quantitative transient-state imaging with time-efficient acquisition, reconstruction, and parameter...

MR-based attenuation correction (MRAC) is important for accurate quantification of the uptake of PET tracers in combined PET/MR scanners. However, current techniques for MRAC usually require multiple acquisitions or complex post-processing to discriminate the different tissues. Inspired by the ancient Greeks, who believed that matter was made of th...

MR-based attenuation correction (MRAC) is important for accurate quantification of the uptake of PET tracers in combined PET/MR scanners. However, current techniques for MRAC usually require multiple acquisitions or complex post-processing to discriminate the different tissues. Inspired by the ancient Greeks, who believed that matter was made of th...

Purpose To obtain a fast and robust fat‐water separation with simultaneous estimation of water T1, fat T1, and fat fraction maps. Methods We modified an MR fingerprinting (MRF) framework to use a single dictionary combination of a water and fat dictionary. A variable TE acquisition pattern with maximum TE = 4.8 ms was used to increase the fat–wate...