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Imad Najm, MD: Using Advanced MRI Technology in Epilepsy
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The director of the Epilepsy Center and vice chair of the Neurological Institute for Strategy and Development at Cleveland Clinic relayed his excitement for a new advanced imaging tool that could change how epilepsy specialists diagnose and treat the disease.
“To me, this is a dream technology if we can prove its usefulness in epilepsy.”
Imad Najm, MD, director of the Epilepsy Center and vice chair of Neurological Institute for Strategy and Development at Cleveland Clinic, believes that magnetic resistance fingerprinting (MRF) is on track to be one of the most revolutionary imaging modalities for identifying the pathology of lesions in the brain. While traditional MRIs are limited to showing structure, MRF can show characteristics of tumors and lesions that can help confirm whether or not they are epileptic in nature.
Knowing the specific lesion pathology from MRF can help sort out the handful of potential epileptic nodules. Correctly identifying these lesions can help patients avoid surgery and instead boost their candidacy for advanced, noninvasive treatments like high-intensity focused ultrasound, which can target and destroy specific epileptic lesions that cause seizures.
In this interview with NeurologyLive, Najm explained why he views MRF as a dream technology for the future of identifying and treating epilepsy.
