Overcoming challenges of quantitative susceptibility mapping in moderate-to-severe TBI patients

Motivation: Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) is being increasingly used to investigate pathophysiological changes in traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, generating artefact-free quantitative susceptibility maps in brains with large focal lesions, as in the case of moderate-to-severe TBI (ms-TBI), is particularly challenging. Goal(s): To generate artefact-free quantitative susceptibility maps in moderate-to-severe TBI patients with large focal lesions. Approach: We utilized a novel two-pass masking technique and reconstruction procedure in combination with a recently developed virtual brain grafting tool for brain repair. Results: Our innovative approach allowed us to generate artefact-free personalised QSM profiles of individual ms-TBI patients with reference to a sample of healthy controls. Impact: We outline an approach to obtain magnetic susceptibility values in the presence of large focal lesions and provide a framework to generate personalised QSM profiles that may be used by clinicians to characterise TBI pathophysiology or implement neuroscience-guided rehabilitation programs.