Magnetic resonance elastography: from invention to standard of care.
Richard L EhmanPublished in: Abdominal radiology (New York) (2022)
In 1995, a vivid image of diffracting waves in red and blue was published on the cover of the journal SCIENCE. An article in that issue described a new imaging technology called magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) (Muthupillai in Science 269:1854-1857, 1995). In 2004, quantitative images of liver stiffness in vivo, obtained with MRE, were demonstrated for the first time at the annual meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Only five years later, the technology had become widely available as an FDA-cleared diagnostic tool for patient care. MRE has emerged as a reliable non-invasive diagnostic method for detecting and staging liver fibrosis. Deployed on more than 2000 MRI systems worldwide, MRE has received a Category I CPT code from the American Medical Association, based on clinical availability and efficacy. For many patients, MRE now provides a safe, more comfortable, and much less expensive alternative to liver biopsy for diagnosing liver fibrosis. Although progress in radiology is notable for a history of very rapid translation of technology innovations to patient care, the path is rarely linear. This article reflects on the story of MRE, the advances and the setbacks, and the lessons that were learned in the process.
Keyphrases
- liver fibrosis
- magnetic resonance
- contrast enhanced
- healthcare
- deep learning
- end stage renal disease
- high resolution
- public health
- magnetic resonance imaging
- ejection fraction
- newly diagnosed
- prognostic factors
- lymph node
- peritoneal dialysis
- artificial intelligence
- computed tomography
- optical coherence tomography
- quality improvement
- systematic review
- convolutional neural network
- mass spectrometry
- photodynamic therapy