Welcome to this new joint course in collaboration with ESMRMB – European Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology!

The aim of this course is to convey in-depth knowledge about diffusion MRI, including diffusion weighted imaging DWI, diffusion tensor imaging DTI, diffusion kurtosis imaging DKI as well as higher-order diffusion such as diffusion spectral imaging DSI. While basic DWI is routinely used on a daily basis, more advanced techniques such as DTI, DKI or DSI have proven additional value notably in clinical studies, but at the same time are highly dependent on acquisition and post-processing which affects interpretation.

This course module will discuss the entire spectrum of clinical diffusion MRI including presurgical tumor tractography, epilepsy and neurodegeneration as well as imaging of the spinal cord and peripheral nerves. In this way, technical and clinical aspects are addressed jointly, providing a profound insight on how to best tailor imaging protocols to specific clinical questions, and how to interpret findings in the context of a specific imaging technique. These topics are taught using a mixture of lectures, case-based workshops, and panel discussions.

Learning Objectives:

• to know the technical background of the different diffusion MRI techniques (such as DWI, DTI, DKI, DSI)
• to know the differences between deterministic and probabilistic DTI tractography
• to know how clinical situations (e.g. perifocal brain edema) may affect diffusion MRI
• to understand and interpret diffusion MRI in common clinical settings

The course will be organized in cycles repeating every 2 years. Each cycle consists of 4 modules of 2 to 3 days each.

This module 3 will be on Diffusion MRI and will be held as a live onsite meeting on 18-20 May in Berlin, Germany.

Course Directors:

ESNR: Sven Haller
ESMRMB: Marion Smits

Participation Requirements:

The course is taught at the advanced level and builds on the ECNR as well as the ESMRMB School of MRI programmes. Participants are physicians with good knowledge of MRI techniques in a clinical neuroradiological context as well as technicians, radiographers and scientist with clinical interest.