Degrees and competences

• Licentiate of Medicine, University of Helsinki 18 Jan 1983
• M.Sc. (Diplomi-insinööri) Helsinki University of Technology, Department
• of Technical Physics 29 Nov 1988
• Doctor of Medical Sciences, University of Helsinki 8 Jun 1990
• Specialist in Radiology 26 Mar 1991
• Subspecialist in Medical Administration 3 Dec 2002
• Docent in Radiology, University of Helsinki 28 Dec 1995
• Docent in Functional Medical Imaging, Helsinki Univ. of Technology 1 Mar 1998

Current Tasks

• Professor and Chair of Radiology, University of Turku, Finland 1 Apr 2006
• Chief Radiologist (Ylilääkäri), Turku University Hospital 1 Jan 2009
  

In the mid-1980s I began to study
magnetic resonance flow phenomena using an experimental flow phantom. With the
help of a Fogarty grant from the NIH, I began MRI perfusion and diffusion work
under the supervision of Professors Bruce Rosen and Thomas Brady and in
collaboration with the late Associate Professor John Belliveau at the Harvard
Medical School-Massachusetts General Hospital NMR Center. We made two important scientific findings: high cerebral blood volume evaluated by MRI CBV imaging is strongly associated with the grade of human
gliomas (Aronen et al. Radiology 1994) and high cerebral blood volume is
associated with high glucose uptake evaluated by means of PET FDG studies,
indicating an association of capillary density and energy metabolism in human
gliomas (Aronen et al. Clinical Cancer Research 2000).

I continued my collaboration with the MGH NMR Center,particularly with Associate Professor Belliveau until he passed February 14, 2014. Upon returning to Finland in 1993 I immediately started my own research group, beginning in Helsinki, then in 1997 in Kuopio
and since 2007 also in Turku. We demonstrated the usefulness of magnetization transfer and spin locking
techniques in the characterization of head and neck tumors (Radiology
1996;200:369-375). We also evaluated MR imaging in the diagnosis of pelvic
inflammatory disease (Radiology 1999;210:209-216) and MR imaging of Achilles
tendon problems (AJR 1999;173:323-328, AJR 2000;175:251-260). We were able to
demonstrate the usefulness of combined perfusion and diffusion MR imaging in
acute (Stroke 1999;30:1583-1590 and Radiology 2000;217:886-894) and hyperacute
(Stroke 2005;36:44-49) stroke patients. We have addressed the potential of
perfusion MRI studies in the evaluation of coronary artery disease patients
(Circulation 1997;96:2859-2867) and myocardial viability (Radiology
2000;217:729-736). One important direction of our research has been the
comparison and combination of MEG and fMRI studies (Hum Brain Map 1999;8:13-27,
Radiology 2006;241:213-22). My research group has contributed to the
methodological development and evaluation of susceptibility contrast perfusion
(Mag Reson Med 2002;47:973-981) together with Professor Leif Østergaard (Århus University
Hospital). We have
developed and evaluated effective fMRI analysis methods based on contextual
clustering (IEEE T Med Imaging 2001;20:403-414 and NeuroImage 2001;13:459-471)
and permutation (NeuroImage 2006;32:654-664).

Together with Professor Synnöve
Carlson we have imaged the primarily frontoparietal network active during the
visuospatial (Cerebral Cortex 1998;8:743-752) and audiospatial (Cerebral Cortex
2000;10:889-898) working memory tasks. During the years 2002-2007 my
research group “Functional Brain Imaging Unit” was one of the six groups
forming the Helsinki Brain Research Centre, a Centre of Excellence funded by
the Academy of Finland and headed by Professor Risto
Näätänen.
A recent focus of my research has
been the MR imaging of prostate cancer. A part of the project is being carried
out in collaboration with the Turku PET Centre (J Nucl Med 2010;51:1676-83, Eur
J Radiol. 2012 Nov;81(11):2966-72, Acta
Oncol 2016;55:59-67). We
performed more than 800 research prostate MRI scans since 2010. We have
finalized two prospective registered clinical trials in Turku. (JMRI 2015;41:1116-1124, JMRI 2017;46:1089-1095)
and published 17 original articles on the subject. In our studies a short MRI
protocol consisting of T2-weighted and diffusion weighted imaging was shown to
be a very accurate tool for the detection and characterization of clinically
significant prostate cancer. Utilizing our preliminary version of algorithms
based on machine learning we have been able to develop semiautomatic methods
for the analysis of prostate cancer MRI data sets.