Magnetic resonance elastography

Departments and specialties

Mayo Clinic has one of the largest and most experienced practices in the United States, with campuses in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota. Staff skilled in dozens of specialties work together to ensure quality care and successful recovery.

Research

Mayo Clinic researchers are working to expand the range of tissues and organs that can be noninvasively imaged using MRE. Conditions for which MRE might someday be used include:

• Breast cancer. Researchers are working on using MRE to tell the difference between benign and cancerous tumors.
• Musculoskeletal disease. Researchers are using MRE to measure muscular stiffness and freedom of movement. This could noninvasively assess muscle in typical and disease states.
• Alzheimer's disease. MRE has potential to show changes in brain mechanical properties, possibly leading to new methods for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease and other diseases affecting brain function at an earlier stage.
• Brain tumors. Mayo researchers are testing MRE for evaluating brain tumors as an aid to surgical planning.
• Heart disease. Mayo investigators have adapted MRE to assess the mechanical properties of the heart. This technology has potential to help in diagnosis of heart failure.
• Kidney disease. MRE may provide new ways to diagnose kidney fibrosis and to assess disease progression.

Read more about research in the Mayo Clinic Magnetic Resonance Imaging Laboratory.

Publications

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

Research Profiles