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Imaging Informatics, a research and design program, strives to help physicians and surgeons improve disease diagnosis, treatment and monitoring from the development and application of information technology.
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Stroke

The 4th leading cause of death in Canada, and the primary source of adult disability. Estimated to cost the Canadian economy $3B each year. We are developing algorithms to rapidly and reliably predict brain regions at risk during acute stroke.

Stroke

Highlights

 

Description

ip-pipeline.jpg
Blood flow map of an ischemic stroke patient shows reduced blood flow in the right hemisphere of the brain (left side of the image)

Ischemic stroke is caused by the obstruction of cerebral blood vessels. Without acute treatment stroke usually results in permanent neurological damage. Stroke neurologists can inject “clot-busting” drugs to help dissolve obstructions and restore blood flow to brain tissue at risk of infarction.  However, studies have shown that, on average, after three hours from the onset of stroke the risks of hemorrhage associated with drug therapy begin to outweigh the benefits.  The ability to make quantitative measures of local blood flow to brain tissue (perfusion) has the potential to provide precise knowledge of the extent of brain tissue that can be salvaged and extend this three-hour window.


Dynamic susceptibility contrast magnetic resonance imaging (DSC-MRI) measures the concentration of a bolus of contrast material as it passes through the cerebral vessels.  This allows non-invasive visualization of blood flow through the brain. The University of Calgary Stroke Program is at the forefront of stroke research to develop quantitative DSC-MRI techniques in order to predict the extent of brain tissue at risk in ischemic stroke.

Ongoing stroke related projects at the centre include: improving DSC-MRI, fast visualization for clinicians of CT and MR stroke data and prediction of stroke evolution in hyperacute patients.

More information about stroke can be found at the Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation website.

 

Papers

  • Separate Grey and White Matter Cerebral Blood Flow Analysis for Improved Stroke Outcome Prediction. Simon JE, Bristow MS, Lu H, Lauzon ML, Brown R, Manjon JV, Eliasziw M, Frayne R, Buchan AM, Demchuk AM, Mitchell JR. Journal of Cerebral Blood-Flow and Metabolism, doi: 10.1038/sj.jcbfm.9600130 (2005).
  • Perfusion and Diffusion in Acute Stroke: Human Gray and White Matter Have Different Thresholds for Infarction. Bristow MS, Simon JE, Brown RA, Eliasziw M, Hill MD, Coutts S, Frayne R, Demchuk AM, Mitchell JR. Journal of Cerebral Blood-Flow and Metabolism, doi: 10.1038/sj.jcbfm.9600135 (2005).
  • Maximum entropy deconvolution for dynamic susceptibility contrast magnetic resonance imaging. Drabycz S, Brown RA, Law AG, Mitchell JR. Proc. 5th IASTED International Conference on Visualization, Imaging, and Image Processing (VIIP).  Benidorm, Spain. ACTA Press, 480(114):442-447 (2005).

 

Abstracts

  • Real-time generation of quantitative cerebral perfusion maps to improve acute ischemic stroke management. Drabycz S, Brown RA, O’Brien B, Kmech J, Mitchell JR. Stroke 37(2):703 (2006). International Stroke Conference Poster Presentation P284.
  • A fast regularization algorithm to generate absolute maps of brain blood flow. Drabycz S, Brown RA, O’Brien B, Mitchell JR.  Oral presentation by S Drabycz at the 6th Alberta Biomedical Engineering Conference, Banff, Alberta, Canada (2005). Most Outstanding Oral Presentation – First Prize
  • Maximum entropy deconvolution for MR perfusion imaging. Drabycz S, Brown RA, Mitchell JR. Oral presentation by S Drabycz at the 2nd University of Calgary Engineering Graduate Student Conference, Calgary, Alberta, Canada (2005).
  • A Novel Method for Deriving Grey and White Matter CBF Using Multi-Spectral MR. Brown RA, Simon JE, Lu H, Lauzon ML, Frayne R, Mitchell JR. Oral presentation by RA Brown at the 11th annual International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Scientific Meeting and Exhibition, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (2003).

 

Invited Talks

  • Improving the speed and accuracy of quantitative perfusion imaging. Drabycz S. Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Valencia, Spain (2005).
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