Cape Town - 2026 ISMRM-ISMRT Annual Meeting and Exhibition - Muscle MRI in Health and Disease: From Standardization to Application

Muscle MRI in Health and Disease: From Standardization to Application

Oral

Musculoskeletal

Thursday, 14 May 2026

Hall 1A

13:40 - 15:30

Moderators: Martin Schwartz & Marta Maggioni

Session Number: 601-02

CME/CE Credit Available

Similar Sessions

MRI in muscle, with standardization of techniques and applications in disease

Skill Level: Intermediate

13:40		601-02-001. Standardizing Quantitative Muscle MRI: An Inter-Vendor Evaluation in Healthy Adults Johanna Thomä, Lionel Butry, Martijn Froeling, Johannes Forsting, Lara Schlaffke BG University Hospital Bochum, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany Impact: When MRI vendor changes occur mid-study, parameter-specific biases in qMRI—particularly for fat fraction and water T₂—can obscure longitudinal effects. Implementing harmonization or bias correction models is essential to ensure inter-vendor data comparability and reliable interpretation of disease progression.
13:51		601-02-002. Determinants of qMRI variation in skeletal muscle: Effects of sex, age and muscle volume Linda Heskamp, Martijn Froeling University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands Impact: Accounting for whole-muscle volume on top of gender and age, which are commonly used covariates, is crucial for proper interpretation of quantitative muscle MRI in clinical studies on neuromuscular disease patients and healthy controls.
14:02		601-02-003. Age- and Sex-Dependent Alterations in Skeletal Muscle Microstructure Assessed by DTI and DKI Ananya Goyal, Donnie Cameron, Luigi Ferrucci, David Reiter, Jelle Veraart, Valentina Mazzoli Stanford University, Stanford, United States of America Impact: This study highlights diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) as a sensitive marker of age- and sex-specific muscle microstructural remodeling, revealing changes not captured by DTI/conventional MRI. Findings may inform early detection of sarcopenia and guide personalized strategies for monitoring and intervention.
14:13		601-02-004. Effect of gradient non-linearity correction on whole leg Diffusion tensor imaging Martijn Froeling, Linda Heskamp University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands Impact: Voxel-wise correction of gradient non-linearities is crucial for accurate muscle DTI. It reduces MD bias, minimizes orientation-dependent FA errors, and improves tractography reliability, ensuring reproducible whole-leg analyses and enabling more robust biomarkers for muscle microstructure in health and disease.
14:24		601-02-005. MuscleMap Toolbox: Open-Source, Contrast-Agnostic Tools for Automated Whole-Body Muscle Segmentation and 3D Quantification Evert Onno WEsselink, James Elliott, Marnee McKay, Ananya Goyal, Dario Pfyffer, Richard Yin, Sandrine Bédard, Christine S W Law, Brian Kim, Julien Cohen-Adad, Benjamin De Leener, Kenneth Weber Stanford Medicine, Stanford, United States of America Impact: The MuscleMap Toolbox enables automated, reproducible 3D assessment of muscle health from MRI and CT, empowering large-scale research, improving clinical decision-making, and accelerating the translation of muscle biomarkers into practice through standardized, open-source, multimodal analysis.
14:35		601-02-006. Short- and long-term changes in trunk muscle volume, quality, and strength after diet-induced weight loss in the LION study Daniela Junker, Johannes Raspe, Anna Reik, Mingming Wu, Stella Näbauer, Florian Kreuzpointner, Kathrin Schmalzl, Marcus Makowski, Hans Hauner, Fabian Stöcker, Christina Holzapfel, Dimitrios Karampinos Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, Munich, Germany Impact: The study shows that diet-induced weight loss causes lasting decreases in trunk muscle volume alongside improved muscle quality, yet without change of strength. MRI-derived parameters capture these opposing adaptations, supporting their use for monitoring structural muscle changes in obesity interventions.
14:46		601-02-007. Assessing T2 relaxation time in lower limb muscles in adults with and without sarcopenia Matthew Birkbeck, Karen Suetterlin, Christopher Hurst, Claire McDonald, Susan Hillman, Avan Sayer, Rachel Cooper, Miles Witham, Kieren Hollingsworth Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom Impact: We accurately assessed T₂ relaxation time of skeletal muscle in adults with and without sarcopenia. T₂ was higher in participants with sarcopenia and associated with physical performance, suggesting it could be used as a biomarker of muscle quality in ageing.
14:57		601-02-008. Multifidus muscle degeneration at the L1/2 level is a potential risk factor for upper lumbar disc herniation Yan Zhang, Junrong Chen, Yuchen Liu Chengdu Sport University, Chengdu, China Impact: Targeted interventions, including posture training and core muscle strengthening, may help reduce the incidence and recurrence of upper lumbar disc herniation and improve patients’ quality of life.
15:08		601-02-009. Integration of a harmonized protocol for the diagnosis of neuromuscular diseases in the clinical workflow across centers Susanne Rauh, Donnie Cameron, Linda Heskamp, Mark Kruit, Rutger A Nievelstein, Ruud Becks, Erik Niks, Corrie Erasmus, W Ludo van der Pol, Bart Bartels, Nens van Alfen, Martijn Froeling, Hermien Kan Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands Impact: A muscle MRI protocol harmonized between multiple sites enables data pooling and comparison, which is essential for rare neuromuscular diseases. Our multi-center harmonized TSE-Dixon muscle protocol demonstrated comparable diagnostic quality to the conventional protocol, justifying implementation in the clinical workflow.
15:19		601-02-010. Water T1 Detects Subtle Muscle Involvement in Becker Muscular Dystrophy Beyond Fat Fraction Sina Graf, Valentina Schunk, Pierre-Yves Baudin, Benjamin Marty, Frank Roemer, Arnd Dörfler, Michael Uder, Elisabetta Gazzerro, Armin NAGEL, Teresa Gerhalter Uniklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany Impact: This study shows that water T1 mapping can detect subtle muscle abnormalities in Becker muscular dystrophy even before visible fat replacement. Earlier detection of disease activity could support more sensitive monitoring in therapeutic trials and help evaluate treatment effects sooner.