Detail

Keywords

Agenesis of Corpus Callosum; Arnold-Chiari Malformation; Brachial Plexus Neuropathies; Brain Diseases, Metabolic; Brain Mapping; Corpus Callosum; Developmental Disabilities; Diffusion Tensor Imaging; Epilepsy; Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders; Fetal Development; Functional Magnetic Resonance; Functional Neuroimaging; Malformations of Cortical Development; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Neuronal Plasticity; Peripheral Nerves

Research interests

Clinically I serve as a neuroradiologist with specific background in pediatric neuroradiology. My scientific interest lies in the field of developmental neuroimaging. My group and me were active in introducing and applying advanced MR imaging techniques to study the connectivity and even function of the human brain. We have pioneered the field of "fetal neuroradiology" by applying these techniques in prenatal brain imaging. My personal background in neurology and neuroanatomy facilitated his studies on fetal brain structure and function. As vice president of the Austrian Society of Neuroradiology I am involved in the clinical translation of our findings. As member of the board of directors of the International Research Consortium (IRC5: https://irc5.org/) I am trying to connect neuroimaging research in the field of developmental neuroimaging with patients and their specific needs.

Techniques, methods & infrastructure

I am using a variety of clinical and advanced functional MRI techniques in the assessment of fetal, pediatric and adult brain structure and function. Functional BOLD fMRI is used for functional brain mapping and the localization of important brain functions preoperatively. Recently we have managed to use this technique prenatally and even intraoperatively (passive fMRI). Diffusion tensor imaging is a technique, which allows to visualize the connectivity of the fetal white matter in vivo, without the need to dissect the brain. We were the first to successfully introduce this technique in vivo and in utero. MR Spectroscopy allows to noninvasively assess the metabolites of neuronal structures. Quantitative MRI allows to objectify signal changes in normal and pathological cases.

Grants

• PIMIENTO (2021)
  Source of Funding: WWTF (Vienna Science and Technology Fund), Life Sciences
  Coordinator of the collaborative project

Selected publications

1. Schwartz, E. et al. (2021) ‘The Prenatal Morphomechanic Impact of Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum on Human Brain Structure and Asymmetry’, Cerebral Cortex [Preprint]. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhab066.
2. Schmidbauer, V.U. et al. (2022) ‘Different from the Beginning: WM Maturity of Female and Male Extremely Preterm Neonates—A Quantitative MRI Study’, American Journal of Neuroradiology, 43(4), pp. 611–619. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3174/ajnr.a7472.
3. Zrzavy, T. et al. (2021) ‘FLAIR2 post-processing: improving MS lesion detection in standard MS imaging protocols’, Journal of Neurology, 269(1), pp. 461–467. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00415-021-10833-x.
4. Dovjak, G.O. et al. (2021) ‘Normal human brainstem development in vivo  : a quantitative fetal <scp>MRI</scp> study’, Ultrasound in Obstetrics &amp; Gynecology, 58(2), pp. 254–263. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/uog.22162.
5. Diogo, M.C. et al. (2019) ‘Echo-planar FLAIR Sequence Improves Subplate Visualization in Fetal MRI of the Brain’, Radiology, 292(1), pp. 159–169. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2019181976.