Associate Professor, Division of Medical Physics,
Department of Oncology, University of Alberta

Senior Medical Physicist, Dept. of Medical Physics, Cross Cancer Institute

BSc Engineering Physics: University of Alberta, 1997
PhD Medical Sciences- Biomedical Engineering: University of Alberta, 2004

Fellow: Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine (Magnetic Resonance Imaging Physics)
Member: Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine (Magnetic Resonance Imaging Physics)

Current Research Interests

My research interests generally lie in the acceleration of MR imaging for two purposes:

1. Spectroscopic Imaging: This technique holds great potential for the cancer patient, essentially providing non-invasive biochemical information derived from tissue. It has been shown to benefit patients for diagnostic purposes, treatment planning, and monitoring response to treatment. Despite all these benefits, it is not used to its full potential in the clinic due to lengthy acquisition times and low resolution. I am working to leverage a number of recent techniques in anatomic imaging to make this technique more feasible to be used on a regular basis.
2. Rapid Image Acquisition for Real-Time Applications: While many imaging techniques have been developed for rapid dynamic acquisition, many of these strategies are not conducive to on-the-fly reconstruction for real-time applications, for example, real-time radiotherapy guidance. I am exploring various under-sampling and reconstruction approaches for this purpose.

Selected Publications

B Dietz, E Yip, J Yun, B G Fallone, K Wachowicz,
"Real-time dynamic image MR reconstruction using compressed sensing and principal component analysis (CS-PCA): Demonstration in lung tumor tracking",
Medical Phyiscs, In Press.

J D Jutras, K Wachowicz, G Gilbert, N De Zanche,
"SNR efficiency of combined bipolar gradient echoes: Comparison of three-dimensional FLASH, MPRAGE, and multiparameter mapping with VFA-FLASH and MP2RAGE",
Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 77(6):2186-2202, 2017.

S Y Tari, K Wachowicz, B G Fallone,
"A non-axial superconducting magnet design for optimized patient access and minimal SAD for use in a linac-MR hybrid: proof of concept",
Physics in Medicine and Biology, 62(8):N147-160, 2017.

E Yip, J Yun, K Wachowicz, Z Gabos, S Rathee, B G Fallone,
"Sliding Window Prior Data Assisted Compressed Sensing for MRI tracking of lung tumours",
Medical Physics, 44(1):84-98, 2017.

J Yun, E Yip, Z Gabos, K Wachowicz, S Rathee, B G Fallone,
"Improved lung tumor autocontouring algorithm for intra fractional tumor treacking using 0.5 T linac-MR",
Biomedical Physics Á Engineering Express, 2(6):067004, 2016.

A A Heikal, K Wachowicz, B G Fallone,
"Correlation between k-space sampling pattern and MTF in compressed sensing MRSI",
Medical Physics, 43(10):5626-5634, 2016.

K Wachowicz, N De Zanche, E Yip, V Volotovskyy, B G Fallone,
"CNR considerations for rapid real-time MRI tumour tracking in radiotherapy hybrid devices: Effects of B0 field strength",
Medical Physics, 43(8):4903-4914, 2016.

Book Chapter:

G Fallone, B Murray, B Burke, A Keyvanloo, S Rathee, J St. Aubin, S Steciw, K Wachowicz, B Warkentin, Y Yun,
Chapter 6: Design and Development of Linac-MR Hybrids
in A B Wolbarst (Ed.) Advances in Medical Physics, Volume 6. (pp. 113:142). Madison WI: Medical Physics Publishing. (2016)

L J Vos, M Janoski, K Wachowicz, A Yahya, O Boychak, J Amanie, N Pervez, M B Parliament, E Pituskin, B G Fallone, N Usmani,
"Role of serial multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging in prostate cancer active surveillance",
World Journal of Radiology, 8(4):410-418, 2016.

A Keyvanloo, B Burke, J S Aubin, D Baillie, K Wachowicz, B Warkentin, S Steciw, B G Fallone,
"Minimal skin dose increase in longitudinal rotating biplanar linac-MR systems: examination of radiation energy and flattening filter design",
Physics in Medicine and Biology, 61(9):3527-3539, 2016.

J D Jutras, K Wachowicz, N De Zanche
"Analytical corrections of banding artifacts in driven equilibrium single pulse observation of T2 (DESPOT2)",
Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 76(6):1780-1804, 2016.

J.Yun, E. Yip, Z. Gabos, K. Wachowicz, S. Rathee, B.G. Fallone,
"Neural-network based autocontouring algorithm for intrafractional lung-tumor tracking using linac-MR",
Medical Physics, 42(5), pp. 2296-2310 (2015).

Invited Review:

K Wachowicz, "Evaluation of active and passive shimming in magnetic resonance imaging", Research and Reports in Nuclear Medicine 4:1-12, 2014.

E Yip, J Yun, K Wachowicz, A A Heikal, Z Gabos, S Rathee, B G Fallone, "Prior data assisted compressed sensing: a novel MR imaging strategy for real time tracking of lung tumors", Med Phys 41(8), 082301, 2014.

R J Paproski, A Heinmiller, K Wachowicz, R J Zemp, "Multi-wavelength photoacoustic imaging of inducible tyrosinase reporter gene expression in xenograft tumors", Sci Rep 4, 5329, 7 pages, 2014.

A A Heikal, K Wachowicz, B G Fallone, "MTF behavior of compressed sensing MR spectroscopic imaging", Med Phys 40(5), 052302, 10 pages, 2013.

J Yun, K Wachowicz, M Mackenzie, S Rathee, D Robinson, B G Fallone, "First demonstration of intrafractional tumor-tracked irradiation using 2D phantom MR images on a prototype linac-MR", Med Phys 40(5), 051718, 12 pages, 2013.

K Wachowicz, T Tadic, B G Fallone, "Geometric distortion and shimming considerations in a rotating MR-linac design due to the influence of low-level external magnetic fields", Med. Phys 39(5), 2659-68, 2012.

B Burke, K Wachowicz, S Rathee, B G Fallone, "Effect of radiation induced current on the quality of MR images in an integrated linac-MR system", Med Phys 39(10), 6139-47, 2012.

T Stanescu, K Wachowicz, D Jaffray, "Characterization of tissue magnetic susceptibility-induced distortions for MRIgRT", Medical Physics, 39(12): 7185-93, 2012.