AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology
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AJNR Am J Neuroradiol · Jan 2015
ReviewCerebrovascular reactivity mapping: an evolving standard for clinical functional imaging.
This review article explains the methodology of breath-hold cerebrovascular reactivity mapping, both in terms of acquisition and analysis, and reviews applications of this method to presurgical mapping, particularly with respect to blood oxygen level-dependent fMRI. Its main application in clinical fMRI is for the assessment of neurovascular uncoupling potential. ⋯ As such, breath-hold cerebrovascular reactivity mapping constitutes an essential component of quality control analysis in clinical fMRI, particularly when performed for presurgical mapping of eloquent cortex. Exogenous carbon dioxide challenges used for cerebrovascular reactivity mapping will also be discussed, and their applications to the evaluation of cerebrovascular reserve and cerebrovascular disease will be described.
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AJNR Am J Neuroradiol · Jan 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialAre there differences between macrocyclic gadolinium contrast agents for brain tumor imaging? Results of a multicenter intraindividual crossover comparison of gadobutrol with gadoteridol (the TRUTH study).
Gadobutrol (Gadavist) and gadoteridol (ProHance) have similar macrocyclic molecular structures, but gadobutrol is formulated at a 2-fold higher (1 mol/L versus 0.5 mol/L) concentration. We sought to determine whether this difference impacts morphologic contrast-enhanced MR imaging. ⋯ Gadoteridol and gadobutrol at 0.1 mmol/kg of body weight provide similar information for visualization and diagnosis of brain lesions. The 2-fold higher gadolinium concentration of gadobutrol provides no benefit for routine morphologic imaging.
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AJNR Am J Neuroradiol · Jan 2015
Apparent diffusion coefficient scalars correlate with near-infrared spectroscopy markers of cerebrovascular autoregulation in neonates cooled for perinatal hypoxic-ischemic injury.
Neurologic morbidity remains high in neonates with perinatal hypoxic-ischemic injury despite therapeutic hypothermia. DTI provides qualitative and quantitative information about the microstructure of the brain, and a near-infrared spectroscopy index can assess cerebrovascular autoregulation. We hypothesized that lower ADC values would correlate with worse autoregulatory function. ⋯ Blood pressure deviation from the optimal autoregulatory range may be an early biomarker of injury in the posterior centrum semiovale, posterior limb of the internal capsule, and basal ganglia. Optimizing blood pressure to support autoregulation may decrease the risk of brain injury in cooled neonates with hypoxic-ischemic injury.
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Conventional MR imaging typically yields normal images of the brain or indicates lesions in areas of high aquaporin expression in patients with neuromyelitis optica. Diffusional kurtosis imaging was applied in patients with neuromyelitis optica to determine whether this technique could detect alterations in diffusion and diffusional kurtosis parameters in normal-appearing white matter and to explore the relationship between diffusional kurtosis imaging and DTI parameters. ⋯ This study demonstrated differences in conventional diffusion and diffusional kurtosis parameters, especially radial kurtosis, in the normal-appearing white matter of patients with neuromyelitis optica compared with healthy controls. Larger studies of patients with neuromyelitis optica should be performed to assess the potential clinical impact of these findings.
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AJNR Am J Neuroradiol · Dec 2014
Multicenter StudyTransorbital sonography in acute optic neuritis: a case-control study.
Acute unilateral optic neuritis is associated with a thickening of the retrobulbar portion of the optic nerve as revealed by transorbital sonography, but no comparison has been made between nerve sheath diameter and optic nerve diameter in patients with acute optic neuritis versus healthy controls. We evaluated optic nerve sheath diameter and optic nerve diameter in patients with acute optic neuritis and healthy controls and compared optic nerve sheath diameter and optic nerve diameter with visual-evoked potentials in patients. ⋯ Transorbital sonography is a promising tool to support the clinical diagnosis of acute optic neuritis. Further studies are needed to define its specific role in the diagnosis and follow-up of optic neuritis.