MRI Innovation at CHOP Lauded by Two Leading Scoliosis Organizations

Two recent papers from the Wyss/Campbell Center for Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) were recognized with awards by the International Congress of Early Onset Scoliosis (ICEOS) and the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS). Both papers were based on studies at CHOP that examined the efficacy of using quantitative dynamic MRI (QdMRI) in the analysis of early-onset scoliosis and to help plan treatment and timing of interventions.

“Rib-based Anchors Do Not Impair Chest Wall Motion in Early Onset Scoliosis” won the Behrooz A. Akbarnia Award for best paper at the International Congress on Early Onset Scoliosis (ICEOS) in November 2020. The award was presented to Patrick J. Cahill, MD, Director of the Wyss/Campbell Center for Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome and primary author of the paper. Co-authors included Jason B. Anari, MD, Nirupa Galagedera, Carina Lott, Joseph M. McDonough, MS, Yubing Tong, Drew Torigian, Jayaram K. Udupa, Caiyun Wu, Catherine Qui, all staff members at CHOP.

The study focused on evaluating the motion of the chest wall before and after surgical intervention in early onset scoliosis patients using a novel methodology, Quantitative dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (QdMRI).

In the study, researchers found that chest wall and diaphragm component tidal volumes significantly improved after rib-based fixation on both concave and convex sides. The improvement is significantly greater on the concave side than the convex side. Rib-based surgery appears to normalize the relative contribution of the chest wall to diaphragm in the respiratory cycle.

The use of this methodology can provide for the first time a true tidal breathing functional assessment metric for the different key dynamic components of the thoracic insufficiency syndrome thorax and abdomen, which relates directly to clinical decision making.

A second paper, “A Novel Imaging Study to Quantify Respiratory Function in Early Onset Scoliosis-Introducing Quantitative Dynamic Magnetic Resonance Imaging (QdMRI)” was awarded the Russell A. Hibbs Basic Science Research Award at the Scoliosis Research Society’s 55th Annual Meeting held virtually in September 2020. Authors included: Yubing Tong, PhD; Jayaram K. Udupa, PhD; Joseph M. McDonough, MS; Caiyun Wu, MS; Catherine Qiu, MS; Carina Lott, MS; Nirupa Galagedera, BA; Jason B. Anari, MD; Drew A. Torigian, MA; and Patrick J. Cahill, MD.