Susceptibility weighted imaging: Clinical applications and future directions.

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
• Medical Physics

Background:

• Susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) is an advanced MRI technique.
• It leverages magnetic susceptibility differences of compounds like iron and deoxygenated blood for enhanced contrast.
• SWI is increasingly utilized for diagnosing neurological conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the basic clinical applications of SWI in neuroimaging.
• To illustrate how SWI aids in the differential diagnosis of neurological disorders.

Main Methods:

• SWI utilizes a fully velocity-compensated, high-resolution, 3D gradient-echo sequence.
• It employs magnitude and phase images, separately or combined, for brain tissue characterization.
• Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) is an advanced post-processing technique applied to SWI data.

Main Results:

• SWI is effective in evaluating trauma and acute neurological presentations, such as stroke.
• It can characterize occult low-flow vascular malformations, cerebral microbleeds, and intracranial calcifications.
• SWI aids in the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases and brain tumors.
• QSM enables detailed anatomical differentiation through quantification of brain iron.

Conclusions:

• SWI provides a valuable source of contrast for neuroimaging.
• Its applications span a wide range of neurological conditions, improving diagnostic accuracy.
• Advanced techniques like QSM further enhance SWI's utility in characterizing brain tissue composition.