How MR Fingerprinting Can Improve Epilepsy Surgery: Irene Wang, PhD

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"Every time I speak to a patient who is interested in participating in our research study, we always talk about how epilepsy surgery is a big deal. Any noninvasive information before we open the brain, before we record directly from the brain, is huge to these patients."

MR fingerprinting is a novel technology that uses conventional MRI scanners but can quantify multiple properties of tissue in a single scan, characterizing areas smaller than a single voxel in a fraction of the time. This relatively new technique may be able to address the areas in where conventional MRIs may be limited in, particularly detecting subtle epileptic lesions or identifying active/epileptic lesions among widespread, multifocal lesions.

Although the safety and efficacy of epilepsy surgery has certainly improved in recent years, patients still shy away from the procedure because of the typical fears associated with brain surgery. Irene Wang, PhD, research director and staff scientist, Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Cleveland Clinic, has published several different papers on the use of MR fingerprinting, and claimed that this new approach holds key clinical value in the pre- and post-surgical process.

In an interview with NeurologyLive®, she detailed her personal passion for the imaging technique, the way MR fingerprinting can improve the eligibility and success of epilepsy surgery, and how it also may alleviate the fears of those who should consider undergoing the procedure.