Water content quantification from Medical Images

Brain edema is one of the most frequent consequences after traumatic brain injury. The brain is enclosed in a rigid skull. Brain swelling due to edema will cause intracranial pressure to progressively rise. High intracranial pressure can therefore cause brain ischemia, herniation, and death. Medical images such as CT scans and magnetic resonance imaging can be particularly useful in confirming intracranial compartmental and midline shifts, herniation syndromes, ischemic brain injury and exacerbation of cerebral edema, also it can provide valuable insights into the type of edema present, focal or global, involvement of gray or white matter.
Due to the important role of the water content in the development of brain edema, it can be useful to evaluate the water content based on the images and provide information for later Finite Element Modeling of traumatic brain edema in Comsol Multiphysics. The principles of MRI and CT generation offer a way to evaluate water content from these images (Fatouros and Marmarou, 1999).

The task can be divided into:
1. A detailed review on the water content quantification from Medical images, including CT, T1 and T2 weighted MRI images.
2. Programming for 3D image, which can generate the water content map from the image.
3. Employing Script to couple the generated water content map into a patient-specific Finite Element model and conduct simulations on brain edema in Comsol Multyphysics.

Reference:
P.Fatouros and A.Marmarou: Use of magnetic resonance imaging for in vivo measurements of water content in human brain: method and normal values. J Neurosurg 90:109–115, 1999

Contact:
Xiaogai Li, [email protected], 073-9081035