Functional and Molecular Neuroimaging Programme

The Functional and Molecular Neuroimaging Programme performs conventional MRI and CT diagnostics integrated with the most advanced functional methods for the study of pathology of the central nervous system and the neuro-muscular district, for inpatients, outpatients and day hospital patients.

The activity is carried out by a multidisciplinary team, with expertise in various fields - neurology, neuroradiology, neurosurgery, neuropsychology, bioengineering, physics, neuropathology and clinical molecular biology - and a Neuroimaging Laboratory, established in collaboration with the University of Bologna, which supports the development and quantitative analysis of structural and functional sequences.

The Laboratory of Neuroimaging performs research and assistance using 3T multi-nuclear MRI, 1.5T MRI, 128-layer CT and uses high-performance workstations with high computational capacity, as well as the most advanced image processing software, some of which was developed in-house.

Care activities

In addition to conventional neuroradiological MRI and CT diagnostics, the main activities of the Programme include the application of the most advanced techniques, mainly high-field MRI (3T), for the diagnostic characterisation and follow-up of neurodegenerative (movement disorders, dementia, ALS, etc.), neuroncological, neuroinflammatory (Multiple Sclerosis) and neurometabolic pathologies.

Main MRI techniques:

• Tractography
• Functional MRI (fMRI) with task and Resting State fMRI
• EEG and fMRI coregistration
• Proton MRI spectroscopy
• Morphometric, volumetric, voxel-based analysis of brain white matter lesion load
• Muscle imaging
• Clinical activities include neuropsychological evaluation of patients with neurodegenerative and oncological diseases and training for fMRI examinations (pre-surgical protocols).

Research activities

The research activity of the programme focuses on the development and application of quantitative MRI sequences and advanced analytical methods for the study of neurodegenerative, white matter, neuroncological and neurometabolic diseases.
The main areas of development are

• advanced multi-parametric pre-surgical imaging techniques in complex neurosurgery: cranial nerve tractography (in endoscopic pituitary and skull base surgery), functional studies (in awake surgery, deep brain stimulation - DBS), EEG-fMRI coregistration (in drug-resistant focal epilepsy surgery)
• Identification of diagnostic, predictive and surrogate MR biomarkers of therapy efficacy using voxel-based morphometry, volumetry, tractography, magnetic susceptibility (QSM) and resting state fMRI techniques in the following diseases:
  • dementia, ALS, movement disorders, neurovegetative dysautonomias, sleep disorders
  • neoplasms of the central nervous system: characterisation of tumour biology in vivo and histopathological and molecular genetic correlates
  • epilepsy: characterisation of the lesion in vivo and histopathological and molecular genetic correlates of the biopsy/operative specimen
  • multiple sclerosis and other white matter pathologies
  • mitochondrial diseases and other rare genetic disorders
  • neuromuscular pathology: muscular dystrophies, metabolic myopathies, inflammatory myopathies

The programme participates in national and international multicentre studies.

It is the ISNB reference for the neuroimaging activities of the National Virtual Institutes of Dementia, Parkinson's, Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunological Diseases, established by the IRCCS Network of Neuroscience and Neurorehabilitation (RIN).

Staff

Fiorina Bartiromo
Laura Ludovica Gramegna
Luca Morandi
Claudia Testa