Clinical quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM): Biometal imaging and its emerging roles in patient care

Abstract

Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) has enabled magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of tissue magnetic susceptibility to advance from simple qualitative detection of hypointense blooming artifacts to precise quantitative measurement of spatial biodistributions. QSM technology may be regarded to be sufficiently developed and validated to warrant wide dissemination for clinical applications of imaging isotropic susceptibility, which is dominated by metals in tissue, including iron and calcium. These biometals are highly regulated as vital participants in normal cellular biochemistry, and their dysregulations are manifested in a variety of pathologic processes. Therefore, QSM can be used to ..