Description of work: Tasks of the ESR: (1) Automated analysis of Ultrasound (US) images: Development of automated post-processing systems to provide fractional calculation of the amount of synovial pannus, joint effusion and articular cartilage in a given joint recess with US. The results provided by this task will be compared with those obtained in previous research work to assess whether: i) volume US may replace or limit the use of MR imaging by offering equal clinical information in longitudinal studies and in terms of outcome prediction; ii) a thorough estimation of color signals with volume US may replace the information provided with gadolinium-enhanced MR imaging. (2) Fusion of MR and US images: integration at the image level by fusing the images acquired with the two different modalities. Registering MR and US images. Investigate methods to address the problem of fully automatic methods. (3) Analysis of Chondral/Osseus Components: Development of an automated system to calculate the fractional amount of chondral and osseous components of individual bones in a given region-of-interest starting from conventional isotropic 3D MR imaging datasets. (4) Analysis of Cartilage Growth: Assess focal changes in cartilage growth and ossification of a given bone in zones of biochemical abnormalities detected with T2-mapping and dGEMRIC or as a function of the exposure of a given bony surface to active synovitis.Presentation ESR12 Ilona Thijs |