Cape Town - 2026 ISMRM-ISMRT Annual Meeting and Exhibition - Exploring Brain Microstructure Across White Matter, Gray Matter, and in TBI

Exploring Brain Microstructure Across White Matter, Gray Matter, and in TBI

Flash Presentation

Neuro B

Wednesday, 13 May 2026

Roof Terrace

16:00 - 17:36

Moderators: Junghun Cho & Ricardo Coronado-Leija

Session Number: 531-03

CME/CE Credit Available

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This session brings together diverse contributions addressing advanced neuroimaging of traumatic brain injury, white matter, and gray matter. Using state-of-the-art MRI techniques—including diffusion imaging, myelin-sensitive approaches, quantitative MRI, and multimodal analyses—the session explores microstructural, functional, and connectivity-related features of the brain across different conditions and populations. The abstracts span methodological developments and biological applications, offering complementary perspectives on brain organization, vulnerability, and injury-related changes, while highlighting the translational potential of advanced MRI in both research and clinical contexts.

Skill Level: Intermediate

16:00		531-03-001. Differential White Matter Structural Connectivity and Rich-Club Organization in Cognitively Impaired Professional Fighters Gaurav Nitin Rathi, Charles Bernick, Virendra Mishra University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, United States of America Impact: Structural Rich-Club network reorganization distinguishes cognitively impaired fighters from non-impaired counterparts, correlating with cognitive severity. These findings identify hub connectivity patterns as objective biomarkers for detecting early RHI-related neurodegeneration, informing targeted monitoring and intervention strategies.
16:02		531-03-002. Gold-standard validated first-in-human intrathecal contrast MRI reveals glymphatic dysfunction after TBI Jianfeng Bao, Xiao Wang, Liangjie Lin, Yuchuan Zhuang, Andrey Tulupov, Yanbo Dong, Yong Zhang The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China Impact: Enables the first clinically viable, gold-standard–validated assessment of human glymphatic clearance using intrathecal contrast MRI, revealing dysfunction after TBI and opening pathways to objective diagnosis, treatment monitoring, and trials targeting CSF–interstitial exchange in acute and chronic brain injury.
16:04		531-03-003. Reducing scan time for myelin bilayer mapping by 38% through optimised SAR management Emily Louise Baadsvik, Markus Weiger, Ariel Martinez Silberstein, Roger Luechinger, Klaas Prüssmann ETH Zurich and University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland Impact: Myelin bilayer mapping is an emerging technique for direct, quantitative assessment of myelin content that holds great potential for impact in neurodegenerative disorders. By significantly reducing its scan time, we expand the utility of the technique toward broader application.
16:06		531-03-004. Normative References of Corpus Callosum Across Lifespan and Application in Various Neurological Diseases Yuqi Luo, Yaou Liu, Jinyuan Weng, Renlong Zhang, Shan Lv, xianchang zhang, Zhizheng Zhuo Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Beijing, China Impact: Lifespan normative references of the corpus callosum enable individualized assessment of structural deviations across various neurological diseases, supporting more precise diagnosis and prognostic prediction. This framework provides a foundation for future research into disease mechanisms and personalized neuroimaging markers.
16:08		531-03-005. Repeatability of Total Sodium Concentration in Brain White Matter Measured with 3D FLORET at 3T Erin MacMillan, Jason Reich, Irene Vavasour, Alex Ensworth, Marcus Vallescura, Cornelia Laule, Rebecca Feldman University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Impact: This study found good repeatability of tissue sodium concentrations using the FLORET trajectory for ultra-short TE, helping to define criteria for detecting biological change, support power calculations, and advance sodium MRI applications to study neurological diseases.
16:10		531-03-006. Microstructural Alterations Surrounding White Matter Hyperintensities in the Precision Aging Network Cohort Deniz Karakay, Chidi Ugonna, Stephanie Matijevic, Nan-kuei Chen, Theodore Trouard, Lee Ryan, Maria Altbach, Ali Bilgin University of Arizona, Tucson, United States of America Impact: This large‑scale analysis identifies heterogeneity of WMH microstructure across major WM regions as well as microstructure variability within the WMH penumbra, establishing microstructural biomarkers that may reshape WM disease assessment and guide targeted interventions in brain aging.
16:12		531-03-007. The T1w/FLAIR Ratio: Associations with Myelin, Diffusion MRI, and Cognition Rob Colaes, Ahmed Radwan, Thibo Billiet, Sarah Cappelle, Ronald Peeters, Daan Christiaens, Sabine Deprez, Stefan Sunaert KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium Impact: This study found that the T1w/FLAIR ratio had weak associations with MWF, dMRI measures, and cognition, indicating that researchers should be cautious when interpreting it as a proxy for myelin and rather consider it a general marker of tissue health.
16:14		531-03-008. Effect of head acceleration events on microstructural organisation of brain cortical grey matter: diffusion MRI study Christian John Saludar, Maryam Tayebi, Joshua McGeown, Jacob Mathew, William Schierding, Katze Zambo, Mātai mTBI Research Group, Justin Fernandez, Alan Wang, Samantha Holdsworth, Eryn Kwon, Vickie Shim Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand Impact: Grey matter microstructural changes following neurotrauma highlight the need to improve understanding of brain-wide alterations beyond white matter, linking them to cognitive decline and symptoms, and informing treatment strategies to support recovery and reduce long-term neurological consequences.
16:16		531-03-009. Iron Does Not Respect Anatomical Boundaries in Deep Gray Matter: Implications for Iron-Sensitive MRI Contrast Fahad Salman, Christian Riedl, Kaylea Horacek, Kevin Thomas, Thomas Jochmann, Guenther Grabner, Niels Bergsland, Michael Dwyer, Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, Robert Zivadinov, Simon Hametner, Ferdinand Schweser University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, United States of America Impact: This study reveals that QSM often misclassifies iron-rich white matter as deep gray matter, potentially biasing neurodegeneration studies. Enforcing anatomically accurate, T1w-based segmentation will improve the reliability of susceptibility-based biomarkers and interpretation in disorders such as multiple sclerosis.
16:18		531-03-010. Assessing molecular, cellular and transcriptomic bases of laminar perfusion and cytoarchitecture coupling in human cortex Fanhua Guo, Chenyang Zhao, Ravi Bhatt, Zixuan Liu, Andy Kim, Zidong Yang, Kay Jann, Mara Mather, Neda Jahanshad, Danny Wang University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States of America Impact: Our study introduces the CBF–CSI similarity index (CCSI), a reproducible 7 T MRI biomarker linking laminar perfusion and cytoarchitecture, revealing associations with mitochondrial metabolism and oligodendrocyte organization, thereby bridging microvascular, metabolic, and structural dimensions of cortical function.
16:20		531-03-011. Submillimeter mapping of diffusion and susceptibility MRI to characterize cortical microstructures Yuto Uchida, Hyeong-Geol Shin, Laura Gomez-Isaza, Juan Troncoso, Adnan Bibic, Julianna Gerold, Dongsuk Sung, Yohan Jun, Fuyixue Wang, Zijing Dong, Susie Huang, Berkin Bilgic, Peter van Zijl, Xu Li, Kenichi Oishi Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States of America Impact: Submillimeter diffusion and susceptibility MRI demonstrated cortical lamination in vivo, bridging ex vivo histology with human mesoscale imaging. This approach enables quantitative assessment of cortical microstructures, advancing early neurodegeneration detection and training data for deep-learning-based susceptibility tensor reconstruction.
16:22		531-03-012. What does FEXI measure in neurons? Valerij Kiselev, Jing-Rebecca Li Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany Impact: Scrutiny of methods for water exchange measurements begins here with filtered exchange imaging (FEXI) inside digitalized impermeable neurons. It is shown that the recovery of diffusion coefficient is multiexponential governed by the eigenvalues of diffusion operators in the cell geometry.
16:24		531-03-013. Techniques for enhanced visualisation of the TRN Ross Shaw, Olivier Mougin, Brandon Ingram, Stephen Mayhew, Andrew Bagshaw, Karen Mullinger, Penny Gowland University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom Impact: The TRN is critical for controlling information flow but difficult to image. We demonstrate MRI contrasts driven by susceptibility most clearly delineates the TRN. Variability between participants illustrates the importance individual definition for the purpose of understanding its functional role.