Research Program: Tumor Biology and Progression
Associate Professor, University of Minnesota Medical School and Department of Radiology

gmetzger@cmrr.umn.edu
612-626-2001 — office
612-626-2004—ax
Preferred method of contact: e-mail

Dr. Metzger received his B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 and his Ph.D. from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota in 1997. His graduate research, conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Xiaoping Hu, focused on novel magnetic resonance chemical shift imaging techniques. After his graduate studies, Dr. Metzger accepted a position with Philips Medical Systems as a clinical scientist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. In this position, he expanded his knowledge in clinical research with specific work on breast, kidney, cardiac and brain MRI applications. In his final two years of his eight year tenure with Philips, he worked at NIH as a senior clinical scientist focusing on diagnostic prostate imaging and MRI guided prostate interventions. With a desire to return to academia, he accepted his current position at the University of Minnesota in 2005 as an associate professor with a joint appointment in the departments of Radiology and Urologic Surgery.

Research Interests

Prostate cancer, magnetic resonance imaging, utra-high field MRI.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) represents a promising method to determine the clinical significance of prostate cancer. Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer have small tumors with low inherent biological propensity for invasive growth and metastasis. These patients may be best treated through observation, or limited therapies. To the contrary, some patients have extensive, biologically aggressive tumors best treated by prostatectomy. Unfortunately, current diagnostics methods, short of pathologic examination of prostatectomy specimens, cannot reliably determine disease extent (volume and spread outside the prostate) and biological aggressiveness.

Dr. Metzger’s lab is investigating the potential of magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy to non-invasively determine the extent and aggressiveness of prostate cancer in clinical studies. This information would be used to improve diagnosis and staging, target therapy and monitor treatment. Initial research objectives involve the development of a multi-parametric statistical model to non-invasively determine cancer probability maps based on anatomic and functional 3 Tesla MRI data. This statistical model will use registered pathology sections as a gold standard of tumor extent and co-localized molecular studies as a gold standard of aggressiveness. A second major focus of Dr. Metzger’s lab involves the development of novel RF coils and imaging methods necessary to make prostate imaging at ultra-high magnetic fields feasible. The increased spatial and spectral resolution of an optimized 7 Tesla prostate imaging platform will improve the ability to track small changes in prostate cancer biomarkers facilitating the study of local disease progression and treatment response.

Selected Publications

Metzger GJ, Snyder C, Akgun C, Vaughan T, Ugurbil K, Van de Moortele PF. Local B(1) (+) shimming for prostate imaging with transceiver arrays at 7T based on subject-dependent transmit phase measurements. Magn Reson Med 2008;59:396-409.

Singh AK, Krieger A, Lattouf JB, Guion P, Grubb RL, 3rd, Albert PS, Metzger G, Ullman K, Smith S, Fichtinger G, Ocak I, Choyke P, Menard C, Coleman J. Patient selection determines the prostate cancer yield of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging-guided transrectal biopsies in a closed 3-Tesla scanner. BJU Int 2008;101:181-185.

Ocak I, Bernardo M, Metzger G, Barrett T, Pinto P, Albert PS, Choyke PL. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI of prostate cancer at 3 T: a study of pharmacokinetic parameters. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2007;189:849.

Rappard G, Metzger GJ, Weatherall PT, Purdy PD. Interventional MR imaging with an endospinal imaging coil: preliminary results with anatomic imaging of the canine and cadaver spinal cord. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2004;25:835-9.

Szczepaniak LS, Dobbins RL, Metzger GJ, Sartoni-D'Ambrosia G, Arbique D, Vongpatanasin W, Unger R, Victor RG. Myocardial triglycerides and systolic function in humans: in vivo evaluation by localized proton spectroscopy and cardiac imaging. Magn Reson Med. 2003 Mar;49(3):417-23.

Weatherall PT, Evans GF, Metzger GJ, Saborrian MH, Leitch AM. MRI vs. histologic measurement of breast cancer following chemotherapy: comparison with x-ray mammography and palpation. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2001 ;13:868-75.

Metzger G, Sarkar S, Zhang X, Heberlein K, Patel M, Hu X. A hybrid technique for spectroscopic imaging with reduced truncation artifact. Magn Reson Imaging 1999;17(3):435-443.