The RSNA Research and Education (R&E) Foundation has awarded its 2019 Canon Medical Systems USA/RSNA research grants.
Dr. Eric James Hohenwalter of the Medical College of Wisconsin has received the Canon Medical Systems USA/RSNA Research Seed Grant. The 2019 Canon Medical Systems USA/RSNA Research Resident Grants have been awarded to Dr. Aaron Benjamin Simon, PhD, of the University of California, San Diego, and Dr. Arash Nazeri of Washington University.
As the winner of the research seed grant, Hohenwalter will receive $40,000 for a one-year project to test hypotheses and obtain pilot data in preparation for major grant applications. He, along with scientific advisors Drs. Sarah White and Kaila Redifer Tremblay, will study the immediate impact of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts creation on cardiac function by prospectively obtaining invasive perioperative measurements.
The research resident grants provide $30,000 for one year to residents to devote 50% of their time to a research project under the guidance of a scientific advisor. Nazeri, along with scientific advisor Hong Chen, PhD, will investigate whether focal transient opening of the blood-brain barrier using focused ultrasound can help to release abnormal protein aggregates -- the pathological hallmarks of frontotemporal lobar degeneration subtypes -- from the brain to the circulating blood in animal models. This technique could ultimately be used for space/time-resolved liquid biopsy and accurate noninvasive diagnosis of complex neurodegenerative disorders, Canon and the RSNA said.
Meanwhile, Simon will investigate whether early changes in blood flow to arteriovenous malformations after treatment with stereotactic radiosurgery -- as measured with 4D flow MRI -- are predictive of eventual angiographic obliteration. This method, if successful, could enable physicians to predict treatment success months to even years earlier than current techniques, Canon and the RSNA said.
![Examples of ultrasound findings and techniques. (A) Images in a 39-year-old male patient with a mass in the left thigh. The mass is heterogeneous on the B-mode US image (compared with the patient in D) and showed increased microvascularity (superb microvascular imaging [SMI]) and shear-wave elastography (SWE) values. Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma was diagnosed at biopsy (with pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma in surgical specimen). (B) Images in an 18-year-old male patient with a mass in the left leg. The mass is hypoechoic on the B-mode image, with no other findings suggestive of malignancy. The lesion is in contact with the cortex of the tibia, which is slightly irregular. CT revealed a doubtful anteromedial tibial erosion. The microvascular study demonstrated high vascularization, suggestive of malignancy. Periosteal Ewing sarcoma was diagnosed with both histologic and immunohistochemical confirmation. (C) Images in a 69-year-old female patient with a lump growing on the outside of the left leg. Multiple SWE examinations were performed (please note the high values obtained in the measurements, whereas the color map highlights the stiffness relative to adjacent tissues). SMI showed areas of increased vascularization to target for sampling. Undifferentiated spindle cell sarcoma was diagnosed at biopsy, with residual leiomyosarcoma in the surgical specimen after neoadjuvant therapy. (D) Images in a 56-year-old female patient with a mass in the right thigh. The mass is heterogeneous at both B-mode ultrasound (similar to patient A) and MRI (coronal T2-weighted spectral attenuated inversion recovery [SPAIR]; T1-weighted pre-contrast and postcontrast imaging), which even shows uptake after the administration of paramagnetic contrast material, which is traditionally suggestive of malignancy. Low values at SMI and elastography are suggestive of benignity. Spindle cell lipoma was diagnosed at biopsy, with atypical spindle cell lipomatous tumor in the surgical specimen.](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/08/images-radiol250278fig2.APCFLSvX6p.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
