4th Leuven Hands-on Clinical fMRI Course

 21–23 February 2006

 

 

Practical & Clinical fMRI Course

 

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging has become the non-invasive imaging tool to study brain function in both healthy and diseased subjects. This three-day clinical fMRIcourse is specifically designed to introduce researchers and clinicians to the theoretical and practical aspects in fMRI. It includes teaching sessions, volunteer and patient scanning, image analysis and interpretation, and case presentations. Studies are performed on state-of-the-art MRI systems by experts in the field.

 

 

Learning Objectives

 

·       Become familiar with the specific features of functional MRI

·       Get first-hand practical knowledge about setting up and performing fMRI examinations

·       Get an introduction in the development and programming of fMRI paradigms

·       Become familiar with the processing of fMRI data

·       Interpret fMRI activations of motor, language, auditory and visual systems in volunteers and patients

 

Course Content

 

·       Physiological principles underlying the fMRI signal

·       Delivering stimuli in the MR scanner environment, focused on clinical applications

·       Design of clinical fMRI experiments

·       Theoretical background for interpreting clinical fMRI of the auditory, sensorimotor, language and visual system

·       Teaching sessions explaining fMRI techniques in volunteers and patients

·       Interactive scanning sessions on volunteers and patients, highlighting different aspects of fMRI scanning

·       Image analysis and interpretation

·       Clinical case workshops

 

HANDS-ON sessions

 

·       Hands-on sessions include:

·        scanning of both healthy volunteers and patients with brain lesions

·        analysis with fMRI software commercially available on the Siemens/Intera scanner consoles

·        analysis with dedicated fMRI software on off-line workstations

·        demonstration of commercial fMRI set up

 

 

·       and will occur in parallel on 3 scanners:

·        1.5T Siemens Sonata

·        1.5T Philips Intera

·        3.0T Philips Achieva

 

The course is designed to provide the participant with intensive, hands-on instruction. As a result, enrollment in the course will be limited to 25 participants.

 

 

Course Schedule  (print version)

 

Tuesday 21st February 2006 - Basics

 

·       Registration and welcome (9.00-10.00h)

·       Introduction to fMRI (10.00-13.00h)

·        Basics of fMRI - S. Sunaert

·        Experimental set-up - P. Hamaekers

·        Basic concepts of data analysis - R. Peeters

·       Lunch (13.00-13.45h)

·       Functional anatomy (13.45-15.15h)

·        Normal functional anatomy of visual, auditory, sensori-motor and language systems – S. Sunaert

·       Break (15.15-15.30h)

·       Hands on scanning session of volunteers (15.30-18.30h)

·        fMRI of motor, language & vision in 3 volunteers, scanned on Philips Intera/Achieva and Siemens Sonata (parallel sessions)

·       Social programme & dinner (20.00h-…)

 

Wednesday 22nd February 2006 - Experimental

 

·       Clinical teaching cases 1 (09.30-11.00h)

·        Teaching Cases: review & group discussion of cases of fMRI in volunteers – S. Sunaert

·       Break (11.00-11.15h)

·       Introduction to experimental fMRI (11.15-13.00h)

·        Developing paradigms – S. Kovacs and C. Sage

·        Programming paradigms -  E. Simonotto (MRI Devices) and S. Kovacs

·       Lunch (13.00-13.45h)

·       Hands on scanning session of patients (13.45-16.45h)

·        fMRI in 3 patients, scanned on Philips Intera/Achieva and Siemens Sonata (parallel sessions)

·       Break (16.45-17.00h)

·       Advanced clinical fMRI (17.00-18.30h)

·        Auditory fMRI - S. Kovacs

§       fMRI of emotions - L. Goossens and S. Buttiens

§       fMRI in neurodegenerative diseases - C. Sage

·       Social programme & dinner (20.00h-…)

 

Thursday 23rd February 2006 - Processing

 

·       fMRI data analysis (09.30-13.00h)

·        fMRI data analysis: theoretical concepts - S. Sunaert

·        Off-line processing of fMRI data: SPM - S. Sunaert and R. Peeters

·       Lunch (13.00-13.45h)

·       Data processing using dedicated commercial fMRI workstation (13.45-15.00h)

·        InVivo Corp. – E. Simonotto

·       Break (15.00-15.15h)

·       Hands on on-line processing session on scanners (15.15-16.45h)

·        Statistical Analysis of data of the Hands-on Session on scanner   (parallel sessions)

§       Siemens – Tbd

§       Philips – Frank Hoogenraad

·       Clinical teaching cases 2 (16.45-18.00h)

·        Teaching Cases: review & group discussion of cases of fMRI in patients with brain disorders – S. Sunaert

 

Full course material will be supplied on DVD

(including MR images of Hands-On Sessions)

 

Accreditation

 

Accreditation will be provided. Last year’s course was given 120 accreditation points by the Belgian Health Government.

 

 

Intended Audience

 

(Neuro-)radiologists and clinical researchers interested in applying fMRI in a clinical setting, as well as neurologists, neurosurgeons, etc...

 

Venue

 

KULeuven University Hospital

Dept. of Radiology

Gasthuisberg

Leuven, Belgium

www.uzleuven.be

 

 

The city of Leuven is about 30km from Brussels and can be reached by train and bus. Brussels International airport is about 20 minutes by taxi.

 

A map of the Leuven City and how to reach the hospital can be found below:

 

 

Information about the city of Leuven: www.leuven.be

 

 

 

Registration

 

Complete the registration form and e-mail to: christine.raemaekers@uz.kuleuven.ac.be

Cost (Including course material & social events with dinner)

early registration: 500 EUR

registration after January 1st 2006: 700 EUR

deadline for registration: February 1st 2006

!Maximum of 25 participants!

 

Hotel Information

 

A list of hotels and other accommodation can be found on http://www.leuven.be/showpage.asp?iPageID=1401

 

Course Faculty

 

Local faculty

Lies Goossens

Caroline Sage

Silvia Kovacs

Ron Peeters

Pascal Hamaekers

Paul Van Hecke

Stefan Sunaert

 

External

Frank Hoogenraad, Philips Medical System

Tbd., Siemens Medical

Tbd., InVivo Corp.