Cape Town - 2026 ISMRM-ISMRT Annual Meeting and Exhibition - Diffusion Methodologies and Clinical Applications

Diffusion Methodologies and Clinical Applications

Power Pitch

Diffusion

Wednesday, 13 May 2026

Power Pitch Theatre 2

16:00 - 17:36

Moderators: Ziyu Li & Liana Sanches

Session Number: 552-03

No CME/CE Credit

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This session focuses on advanced diffusion MRI methods for probing brain microstructure, barrier integrity, and fluid–tissue interactions in neurodegenerative and systemic diseases associated with cognitive impairment. Presentations will cover diffusion tensor–based and higher-order tensor imaging (DWI/DTI/DKI), time-dependent and microstructure-informed diffusion modeling, and emerging diffusion visualization techniques that improve anatomical and physiological interpretability. Disease-oriented applications include Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment, Parkinson’s disease, Wilson disease, and cognitive dysfunction related to chronic kidney disease. Special emphasis is placed on subcortical U-fibers, white matter microstructure, free-water and cerebrospinal fluid contributions, and diffusion-based markers of blood–brain barrier and glymphatic system dysfunction. By integrating diffusion acquisition strategies, modeling innovations, and clinically relevant phenotypes, the session highlights diffusion MRI as a powerful tool for mechanistic insight and translational research in disorders of cognition.

16:00		552-03-001. Dysfunction of Cerebrospinal Fluid Circulation and Neurovascular Decoupling in ESRD Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment LURUI BO, Zhaoyao Luo, Xinhao Zhang, Taiming Fan, Xinyi Zhu, Qiange Zhu, Wen Gu, Huijie Yuan, Peng Li, Genyi Feng, Guangxu Han, Junya Mu, Shaohui Ma, Ming Zhang The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China Impact: Integrating CSF-glymphatic and neurovascular markers, we suggest a possible link from choroid plexus enlargement to cognitive slowing, with MRI metrics indicating potential biomarkers for early ESRD-MCI intervention.
16:02		552-03-002. Glymphatic Dysfunction Assessed by DTI-ALPS Mediates FDG-PET Metabolic-Cognitive Coupling in Parkinson's Disease Subtypes Wenli Zhang, Guoyang Li, Fengju Mao, Hong Zhao, Long Zhao, Yutong Guo, Chang Sun, Yang Yang, Xiangcheng Wang, Xiaoguang Luo Shenzhen People's Hospital, ShenZhen, China Impact: This multimodal framework reveals that glymphatic dysfunction contributes specifically to posterior cortical cognitive deficits in Parkinson's disease, enabling targeted monitoring of metabolism-glymphatic system function coupling to predict cognitive subtype progression and guide individualized neuroprotective interventions.
16:04		552-03-003. 4 Quadrant Linear Flow Decomposition (4QLiFD) analysis of renal DWI Eric Sigmund, Nima Gilani, Artem Mikheev, Dibash Basukala, Nalini Jeet, Mary Bruno, Malika Kumbella, William C Huang, Hersh Chandarana Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research (CAI²R), New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, United States of America Impact: We present a new framework for processing and interpreting multiple encoded renal DWI data from different cardiac phases and gradient waveforms. This approach estimates steady and pulsatile aspects of fast and slow flow components within renal tissue.
16:06		552-03-004. AI-Enhanced FOD Reveals Structural Connectivity Changes Associated with Neuropsychological Function in Multiple Sclerosis Zihao Tang, Xinyi Wang, Kyi Nue Nyo Zin, Dongang Wang, Heidi Beadnall, Weidong Cai, Chenyu Wang, Michael Barnett The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia Impact: Structural connectivity derived by AI-enhanced fibre orientation distribution enables more sensitive detection of subtle network disruptions linked to neuropsychological impairment in multiple sclerosis. This approach advances connectome-based biomarkers for early cognitive decline and supports monitoring of disease-related brain connectivity changes.
16:08		552-03-005. Accelerated Correlation Tensor Imaging of Human Brain Microstructure at 3T for Clinical Translation Manu Raghavan Pullur Vadakke Warriam, Lisa Novello, Rafael Neto Henriques, Noam Shemesh, Andrada Ianus, Thorsten Feiweier, DOMENICO ZACA', Jorge Jovicich University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy Impact: Building on preclinical sensitivity to cell swelling and dendritic beading and prior human 3T feasibility limited by long scans, this study demonstrates twofold-accelerated CTI with preserved data quality. PCA-based denoising enhances reproducibility, enabling broader studies of human brain microstructure.
16:10		552-03-006. Ultra-High b-value DWI increases diagnostic sensitivity of advanced diffusion models in acute ischemic stroke Chuanshuai Tian, Cong Wang, Daming Shen, Zhengge Wang, xue liang, Peigen Wang, Huiting Wang, Jiahui Cao, Chao Zou, Lei Cao, Xiaoqian Zhu, Jiaming Lu, Bing Zhang, Xin Zhang Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China Impact: Ultra-high b-value DWI unlocks more diffusion biomarkers for acute ischemic stroke (AIS). This enables comprehensive microstructural characterization without requiring specialized sequences, advancing precision diagnosis and potentially guiding early therapeutic decisions in clinical MRI protocols.
16:12		552-03-007. Multimodal MRI reveals brain remodeling related to motor recovery after hyperbaric oxygen therapy in spinal cord injury Xinyi Yang, Zhongyue Wu, Huimin Lai, Lingling Chen, Dairong Cao, Fang Liu The First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China Impact: Multimodal MRI identified structural biomarkers of central plasticity and demonstrated HBO-induced preservation of brain architecture after SCI, supporting the use of advanced neuroimaging for monitoring neurorepair and evaluating therapeutic efficacy.
16:14		552-03-008. Demographic Influences on Peripheral Nerve DTI Metrics Kezia Sharon Christopher, Lauren Ott, Madison Narsipur, Neil Talwar, Ping Wang, Maya Khoury, Isaac V. Manzanera Esteve, Wesley Thayer, Richard Dortch Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, United States of America Impact: Peripheral nerve trauma causes long-term disability, and electrodiagnostics often take months to assess recovery. DTI-derived FA values monitor nerve regeneration; however, normative values with respect to age, sex and handedness must be established for this to be used clinically.
16:16		552-03-009. Automated region-of-interest sampling of diffusion MRI to probe the optic nerve microstructure Patryk Filipiak, Kamri Clarke, Vaidehi Dedania, Bas Rokers, Steven Baete The Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research (CAI2R), Department of Radiology, NYU Langone Health, New York, United States of America Impact: The proposed method automates region-of-interest sampling along the optic nerves to provide simple and reproducible mechanism for dMRI measurement of optic nerve microstructure, eliminating the need for supervision by a trained expert to manually compensate for imaging distortions.
16:18		552-03-010. DW-pCASL and DTI-ALPS Reveal Blood–Brain Barrier and Glymphatic Dysfunction in Chronic Kidney Disease with Sleep Disturbances Yueyao Chen, Qiuyi Chen, Junfeng Li, Youjia Zeng, Fanqi Meng, Hao dong Qin, Liantao Hao, Jinhua Qin, Hanqing Lv Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, The Fourth Clinical Medical College of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen, China Impact: This study introduces DW-pCASL and DTI-ALPS as noninvasive tools to detect BBB and glymphatic dysfunction in CKD, enabling early identification of brain injury and guiding interventions for CKD-related sleep and cognitive disorders.
16:20		552-03-011. Impact of Free Water in the Assessment of Periventricular Flow as Revealed in Wilson’s Disease Gaiying Li, Siyuan Fang, Yupeng Wu, Xiangzhen Yuan, Ying Tang, Xiaozhong Jing, Xu Yan, Yang Song, Xiaoping Wang, Jianqi Li East China Normal University, Shanghai, China Impact: The FWE-DTI-ALPS index offers an optimized MRI marker of glymphatic function, free from FW contamination, enabling detection of dysfunction and monitoring of disease progression in WD and related neurodegenerative disorders.
16:22		552-03-012. IVIM MRI finds markers of increased blood flow in abnormally adherent regions of the placenta in PASD Erin Englund, Alex Barker, Neal Chandnani, Caroline Walsh, David Mirsky, Takashi Fujiwara, Miriam Post, Mariana Meyers University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, United States of America Impact: Abnormally adherent regions of the placenta in patients with placenta accreta spectrum disorder had increased f and D* on IVIM MRI at 1.5T. These findings suggest increased local blood flow in areas of concern for invasion.
16:24		552-03-013. Stim-CODE: PNS & CNS Constrained Optimized Diffusion Encoding for Cardiac DTI on 200 mT/m Whole-Body Gradients Ariel Hannum, Michael Loecher, Tyler Cork, Daniel Ennis Stanford University, Stanford, United States of America Impact: Implementing optimized M₁M₂-compensated diffusion-encoding waveforms with PNS and CNS constraints (Stim-CODE) for cardiac DTI more fully utilizes ultra-high-performance hardware, achieving shorter echo times and improved SNR.
16:26		552-03-014. Cerebellar microstructural changes in Essential Tremor and clinical relevance in whole-brain networks: a diffusion MRI study Elena Grosso, Mélanie Didier, Nadya Pyatigorskaya, Jean-François Aubry, Stéphane Lehéricy, Carine Karachi, Elodie Hainque, Francesca Branzoli, Cécile Galléa Paris Brain Institute - ICM, Inserm U1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Université, UMR S 1127, Paris, France Impact: This work highlights the importance of advanced diffusion MRI in elucidating microstructural alterations in the brain of patients with essential tremor. The observed whole-brain clinical correlations with microstructural changes may provide a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying this disease.
16:28		552-03-015. Is it immune response? Initial experience of tissue microstructure imaging in glioma patients receiving oncolytic viruses Ante Zhu, Raymond Huang, Carl-Fredrik Westin, Odysseas Nikas, Anna Ball, E. Antonio Chiocca, Alexandra Golby GE HealthCare Technology and Innovation Center, Niskayuna, United States of America Impact: Characterization of tissue microstructures, such as immune cells, in brain immunoactivation of glioblastoma patients receiving treatment with oncolytic viruses can benefit from time-dependent diffusion MRI using oscillating gradient encoding at ultrahigh-performance gradient 3T MRI.
16:30		552-03-016. Reproducibility, reliability, and harmonisation of fixel-based analysis (a travelling heads study) Remika Mito, Sila Genc, Michael Mercieca, Joseph Yang, Robert Smith, Andrew Zalesky University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia Impact: Advanced diffusion MRI approaches like fixel-based analysis (FBA) have the potential to provide much more specific insight into the brain’s white matter; however, its reproducibility across sites is unknown. Our findings support its potential use in multi-site studies in future.