Magnetic Resonance Elastography

Research

Imaging scientists at Mayo Clinic, led by Richard L. Ehman, M.D., have been working to develop magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) for more than a decade. Today, they're collaborating with doctors from a variety of specialties at Mayo, and other researchers around the world, to develop, validate, explore and identify high-impact applications of this new imaging technique.

Among the projects being pursued by Mayo researchers are:

• Alzheimer's disease — Mayo researchers have been exploring the potential for MRE to show changes in brain mechanical properties associated with Alzheimer's disease, potentially leading to new diagnostic methods for detecting this condition at an earlier stage.
• Brain tumors — Mayo researchers are testing MRE for evaluating brain tumors, as an aid to surgical planning.
• Breast cancer — Researchers are working on distinguishing benign from cancerous tumors with MRE.
• Heart disease — Mayo investigators have adapted MRE to assess the mechanical properties of the heart and are studying the potential use of this technology to help in diagnosis of heart failure.
• Lung disease — Mayo scientists are investigating the possibility that MRE may provide new ways to assess interstitial lung disease.
• Musculoskeletal disease — The Biomechanics and Motion Analysis Laboratories use MRE to measure the stiffness of muscle to noninvasively study the tension of muscle in normal and disease states.

Publications

See a list of publications by Mayo doctors on magnetic resonance elastography on PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine.