(Hoboken, N.J. and Gisborne, New Zealand – May 6, 2021) – Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) images are usually meant to be static. But now, researchers from Mātai Medical
Research Institute (Mātai), Stevens Institute of Technology, Stanford University, the University of Auckland and other
institutions, report on an imaging technique that captures the brain in motion in real time, in 3D and in stunning
detail, providing a potential diagnostic tool for detecting difficult-to-spot conditions such as obstructive brain
disorders and aneurysms – before they become life threatening.
The new technique, called 3D amplified MRI, or 3D aMRI, reveals pulsating brain movement which could help researchers to
non-invasively visualise brain disorders and inform better treatment strategies for tiny deformations or disorders that
obstruct the brain or block the flow of brain fluids.
Samantha Holdsworth, director of research at Mātai, senior lecturer at the University of Auckland and principle
investigator at the Centre for Brain Research, and Mehmet Kurt, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, have now published two papers on
aMRI in collaboration with Stanford University, the University of San Diego California, Queens University, and the Icahn
School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
The first paper, published in Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, presents the 3D aMRI method, comparing it with its 2D aMRI predecessor. The new method results in a stunning
visualization of the human brain’s movement that can be seen in all directions. The second paper, published in Brain Multiphysics, visualizes, validates and quantifies both the amplitude and direction of the brain as it moves in three dimensional
space. The validation and quantification ensures that the software processing reflects an amplified version of real
movement.
The approaches reported in the two papers could hold important clinical insights for a number of brain disorders. For
example, the abnormal motion of two areas at the base of the brain, the pons and cerebellum, has been proposed as a
diagnostic marker of Chiari I malformation, an abnormality that causes brain tissue to extend into the spinal canal.
2D amplified MRI was developed by Holdsworth, Mahdi Salmani Rahimi, Itamar Terem and other collaborators at Stanford
University, enabling MRI imaging to capture brain motion in a way that had previously never been seen before. 3D
amplified MRI builds on this previous work developed and published in 2016. The aMRI algorithm uses a video motion
processing method developed by Neal Wadhwa, Michael Rubinstein, Fredo Durand, William Freeman and colleagues at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“The new method magnifies microscopic rhythmic pulsations of the brain as the heart beats to allow the visualization of
minute piston-like movements, that are less than the width of a human hair,” explained Itamar Terem, a graduate student
at Stanford and lead author of the first paper. “The new 3D version provides a larger magnification factor, which gives
us better visibility of brain motion, and better accuracy.”
The 3D aMRI method, showing exquisite brain motion that is captured in all three planes of the brain (coronal, axial and
sagittal views). Previously amplified motion was only reliably visible in the sagittal plane – the 3D aMRI method now
captures motion in all planes. Outlined in Terem et al. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (2021); Abderezaei et al. Brain Multiphysics (2021). https://youtu.be/bC05R_tcyW4
The arrows show the direction and amplitude of the brain’s movement. These displacement patterns, which were enabled by
extra processing of 3D aMRI, may help us understand how the brain moves with different disorders. 3D aMRI method outlined in Abderezaei et al. Brain Multiphysics (2021); Terem et al. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (2021).
Using the new 3D aMRI software, 4D animation models of brain motion can be created from an MRI image. The striking
detail of these animated magnified movements may be able to help identify abnormalities, such as those caused by
blockages of spinal fluids, which include blood and CSF (spinal fluid in the brain). 3D aMRI method outlined in Terem et al. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (2021); Abderezaei et al. Brain Multiphysics (2021). https://youtu.be/mRsnPqK4LCQ
Video: 3D aMRI not only provides a stunning look inside the "beating brain", but it can also measure this physiological
motion in all directions. Here, the amplitude of brain motion is overlayed for each brain slice and orientation in 3D.
3D aMRI method outlined in Abderezaei et al. Brain Multiphysics (2021); Terem et al. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (2021). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfplh32y5GY
3D aMRI of the human brain shows minute movements of the brain at an unprecedented spatial resolution of 1.2mm3,
approximately the width of a human hair. The actual movements are amplified (made larger, up to 25 times) to allow
clinicians and researchers to view the movements in detail. The striking detail of these animated magnified movements
may be able to help identify abnormalities, such as those caused by blockages of spinal fluids, which include blood and
cerebrospinal fluid.
“We showed that 3D aMRI can be used for the quantification of intrinsic brain motion in 3D, which implies that 3D aMRI
holds great potential to be used as a clinical tool by radiologists (and clinicians) to complement decision making (for
the patient’s treatment),” said Mehmet Kurt, from the Stevens Institute of Technology and senior author of the second
paper. “In my lab at Stevens, we are already seeing the benefits of using variants of 3D aMRI technique in a variety of
clinical conditions including Chiari Malformation I, hydrocephalus, and aneurysms, in collaboration with clinicians at
Mount Sinai."
A number of research projects are underway using the new imaging software. Holdsworth said, “We are using 3D aMRI to see
if we can find new insights into the effect of mild traumatic brain injury on the brain. She added, “One study already
underway, a collaboration between Mātai and the University of Auckland, uses 3D aMRI together with brain modelling
methods to see whether we can develop a non-invasive way of measuring brain pressure, which may in some cases remove the
need for brain surgery”. This could be valuable clinically, for example, in children with idiopathic intracranial
hypertension who often require invasive brain pressure monitoring.
Miriam Sadeng, an associate professor at the University of Auckland in the department of anatomy and medical imaging,
who is a physician and is an author on both papers said, “This fascinating new visualisation method could help us
understand what drives the flow of fluid in and around the brain. It will allow us to develop new models of how the
brain functions, that will guide us in how to maintain brain health and restore it in disease or disorder.”
“Validating the method through computational modelling gave us further confidence about the potential impact of this
work,” said Javid Abderezaei, a graduate student in Kurt’s lab at Stevens and lead author on the second paper. “What is
exciting to see is that the dominant displacement patterns in the healthy brain qualitatively matched with the
underlying physiology, which means that any changes in the physiological flow as a result of a brain disorder should be
reflected in the displacements we measure.”
The capability to view the differences in brain motion could help us better understand a variety of brain disorders. In
the future, the technology could be expanded to use in other health disorders throughout the body.