David Saloner

Professor in Residence, Radiology and Surgery Core Member, UCB/UCSF Graduate Group in Bioengineering VA Medical Center, 4150 Clement St., S.F. 94121 mailcode: Box 114D VAMC (415) 750-2238 fax: (415) 750-6938 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it http://www.ucsf.edu/virc/ Membership effective July 1988

Research Interests

Investigation of methods for visualizing the vascular lumen and the wall in cardiovascular disease.  Application of numerical modeling methods to the analysis of the progression of vascular disease and the efficacy of devices for treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Research Summary

The Vascular Imaging Research Center and the Interventional MRI Unit investigate the assessment and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Studies are directed at imaging of the vascular lumen and disease of the vessel wall. In addition, investigators are interested in numerical and flow model studies of hemodynamics. Lab collaborators include imaging scientists, radiologists, and surgeons, and there is extensive interaction with theoretical and experimental engineers at UC Berkeley. Investigators at the VIRC are interested in improving the definition of the geometry and composition of atherosclerotic disease. From this study it appears that high contrast, high resolution MR images of the plaque components in the vessel wall might be important for determining the true risk of a neurological event in a patient with carotid disease, and improved methods for imaging atheroma are therefore being developed. In addition, the role that hemodynamic forces play in the rupture of advanced lesions is under active investigation. The in vivo evaluation of these effects requires the development of advanced hardware and software, such as phased array surface coils, and MR velocimetry methods.

The use of contrast agents appears to hold promise for improved depiction of the vascular lumen and the external boundaries of atherosclerosis. Methods for optimizing the timing, injection profiles, and acquisition methods are being developed, and the time course of enhancement of components of the vessel wall is being investigated.
Studies are also pursued in collaboration with Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery in methods for defining regions of infarcted myocardium and in defining the level of viability of affected tissue. Similarly, investigations into surgical repairs of cardiac disease are investigated. MR methods for determining the elastomechanical properties of myocardial tissue are used.  The Interventional MR program utilizes the resource of a combined x-ray fluoroscopy suite which provides easy vascular interventions with an MR suite which provides the ability to monitor the effect on function and on tissue in the end-organ of different interventions.

Selected Publications

Jou L-D, Wong G, Dispensa B, Lawton MT, Higashida RT, Young WL, and Saloner D.  Correlation between Lumenal Geometry Changes and Hemodynamics in Fusiform Intracranial Aneurysms Am J Neuroradiol 26: 2357-63 (2005)

Acevedo-Bolton G, Jou LD, Dispensa BP, Lawton MT, Higashida RT, Martin AJ, Young WL, and Saloner D. Estimating the hemodynamic impact of interventional treatments of aneurysms: numerical simulation with experimental validation: technical case report. Neurosurgery. 2006 Aug;59(2):E429-30

Saloner D., Acevedo-Bolton G, Wintermark M, and Rapp JH.  MRI of Geometric and Compositional Features of Vulnerable Carotid Plaque. Stroke 2007; 38: 637-641

von Morze C, Xu D, Purcell DD, Hess CP, Mukherjee P, Saloner D, Kelley DA, Vigneron DB. Intracranial time-of-flight MR angiography at 7T with comparison to 3T. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2007 Oct;26(4):900-4.

Martin AJ, Cha S, Higashida RT, Cullen SP, Halbach V, Dowd CF, McDermott MW, Saloner DA. Assessment of Meningioma Vasculature and the Effects of Embolization with Intra-Arterial MR Perfusion Imaging.  Amer J of Neuro Radiology.  2007, 28: 196-205