Dissertation Award winner Kishor Karki publishes in Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

Kishor Karki, who recently earned his PhD in Biomedical Sciences: Medical Physics, was the 2010 winner of the Oakland University Outstanding Dissertation Award. His 2009 dissertation "Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigations of Ischemic Stroke, Intracerebral Hemorrhage and Blood-Brain Barrier Pathology," was directed by Adjunct Professor Robert Knight at Henry Ford Hospital.

In the June 2010 issue of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Karki published a paper analyzing the use of magnetic resonance imaging to study stroke: "The MRI-Measured Arterial Input Function Resulting From a Bolus Injection of Gd-DTPA in a Rat Model of Stroke Slightly Underestimates That of Gd-[C-14]DTPA and Marginally Overestimates the Blood-to-Brain Influx Rate Constant Determined by Patlak Plots" (Volume 63, Pages 1502-1209). Coauthors include Knight and Aadjunct Professor James Ewing. The introduction of the paper begins:

"In many brain diseases, there is damage to the blood-brain barrier and leakage of normally impermeable substances. To quantify microvessel leakage and follow its change over time or with treatment, the blood-brain distribution of a magnetic resonance contrast agent such as gadolinium-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid is often done by dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI. To quantify this leakage, the arterial concentration-time course or arterial input function is measured and used to estimate the blood-to-brain influx rate constant by a model such as the Patlak plot"

Karki's success highlights the opportunities for biomedical research at local hospitals, including Henry Ford and William Beaumont, and illustrates the success of OU graduate students. Karki is continuing this research as a postdoctoral fellow at Henry Ford.

This research was supported by several grants from the National Institutes of Health.