Texture Analysis

A unique, quantitative measure of cartilage damage is being explored with new techniques on both the 3T and 7T MRI scanners. Dr. Marius Mayerhoefer is using delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage (dGEMRIC) and T2 mapping to detect cartilage damage earlier when the possibility of treatment is still available. Texture analysis, a computer-assisted mathematical analysis of pixels’ gray-level values, is based on “the observation that before the human eye can recognize pathology on MR images, there might already be minor differences between healthy tissue and pathological tissue,” Dr. Mayerhoefer explained. Under the direction of Prof. Siegfried Trattnig, Dr. Mayerhoefer is studying the potential of texture analysis to produce a quantitative way of not only monitoring disease progression or regression, but also producing an advanced map of quantitative images that could trigger the development of new drugs to treat cartilage disease and other disorders.

 Although the present focus is on biochemical imaging of cartilage, texture analysis can be applied to almost any organ – consequently, the value of this technique is also being evaluated for the detection of pathology in the liver, pancreas and GI tract by Dr. Mayerhoefer and his co-workers. Since texture analysis is also not just limited to MRI, PET/CT imaging represents another highly interesting field of study, due to the fact that this advanced imaging technique offers both morphological and metabolic information about tissues.