CTSC:TTIC.101910

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Agenda

1. Consultations update
2. Imaging in oncology (BIDMC, Oct 13) and Neuroimaging (MGH Oct 18)
3. RSNA practice talk (Thursday November 18, 12-2 pm, Armenise Bllg, amphitheater D).
4. New Harvard Catalyst website
5. Multicenter trials subgroup
6. Update from the bi-monthly CTSA IWG meeting

Harvard Translational Imaging Consortium Meeting Minutes October 19, 2010

In attendance:

• Valerie Humblet
• Randy Gollub
• Bob Lenkinski
• Ivan Pedrosa
• Annick Van den Abbeele
• Simon Warfield
• Gordon Harris
• Jeff Yap
• Laura Alice
• Clare Tempany
• Ron Kikinis

1. Consultations update

• This week we had 2 new requests for consultation, both for Randy: fMRI in spine pain and Identifying the Neural Correlates of the Owner-Dog Bond Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).

2. Imaging in oncology (BIDMC, Oct 13) and Neuroimaging (MGH Oct 18)

• For both sessions, the attendance was about 30-50 %. The ration speaker/attending is not very good. We might think of other formats for our next sessions. According to attendees' feedback, it is hard for researchers and even more for clinicians to commit for a whole afternoon.
• One suggestion that generated a lot of interest is having series during lunch time with guest presenters from the different hospitals. Below are 2 propositions:
  • FMRI: 1 introductory lecture + 1 lecture on biomarkers in fMRI (both at HMS) then a series of lectures that are site specifics (MGH, BIDMC, CHB, BWH, MIT, McLean etc)
  • US: 1 introductory lecture + 1 lecture on biomarkers in US (both at HMS) then a couple lectures on use of US in clinical trial as well as a lecture on the basics steps to include US in studies (IND preparation etc)

3. RSNA practice talk (Thursday November 18, 12-2 pm, Armenise Bllg, amphitheater D)

• Jeff, Bob and Simon will practice the talks they will be given at RSNA, here are the courses objectives:

(a) to present current directions of quantitative imaging as a biomarker in clinical trials.
(b) to review the steps involved in the integration of an imaging biomarker into a multi-center clinical trial (protocol development, scanner qualification, standardization of image acquisition, data management, quality assurance, central review and analysis, validation, dissemination)
(c) to discuss examples of quantitative imaging best practice in PET/CT, MRI and pediatric imaging

4. New Harvard Catalyst website

• The new Harvard Catalyst website is live. Within the next 2 weeks, there will be a link to our wiki page. Valerie and Randy will update it.
• It seems that the profile section still contains inaccurate data, even after people were asked to update it. Valerie will find out who is responsible for the profile pages.

5. Multicenter trials subgroup

• The group moved ahead with virtual trials. The two trials selected where an adult and a pediatric neuroimaging/MRI trials. There are good consensus in the field, we will be looking at pulse sequence, metrics that can be used, phantoms etc. The goal is to look at total brain volume, gray vs withe matter and CFS. We will discuss how to validate the segmentation tools. The next step is to build a template with the protocol, guidelines to recruit subjects and control (with an emphasis on the age-dependent groups in pediatric) and then test-retest.
• The group plans to meet on a monthly basis
• The next step will be to look for CT only protocols and finally to extend to PET.

6. Update from the bi-monthly CTSA IWG meeting

• Randy and Annick participated to the bi-montly CTSA IWG meeting earlier this week. Doug Sheely (our NCRR program officer) and another officer for the BIRN project mentioned mi2b2 as a very good new initiative on the informatics side.