Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging
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Involvement of the brain is one of the most important complications of Behçet's disease, but its diagnosis is difficult because of the lack of effective imaging tools. Therefore, technetium-99m ethyl cysteinate dimer (Tc-99m ECD) single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) of the brain was used to detect abnormal regional cerebral blood flow in patients with neuro-Behçet's syndrome (NBS). ⋯ The parietal lobes were the most common areas with hypoperfusion lesions. Tc-99m ECD brain SPECT is a more sensitive and useful tool than brain MRI for detecting hypoperfusion areas of the brain in NBS patients.
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High-intensity transient signals (HITS) are frequently detected by transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound in patients with mechanical prosthetic heart valves (PHVs), but published data about their clinical relevance are controversial. This study was undertaken to determine the clinical relevance of HITS in patients with mechanical PHVs. ⋯ Only age was a significant predictor of HITS in patients with mechanical PHVs. The lack of association between HITS, clinical symptoms, and cognitive functioning suggests that most of these signals represent harmless epiphenomena, and only HITS detected after O2 inhalation have any clinical relevance.
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The diagnosis of preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD) (or mild cognitive impairment [MCI]) is loaded with a high degree of uncertainty. The aim was to test the accuracy of a computed tomography-based (CT-based) marker of medial temporal lobe atrophy, the radial width of the temporal horn (rWTH), in MCI. ⋯ The rWTH is a measure sensitive to the regional brain atrophy common in early AD.
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Several studies have demonstrated that brain atrophy can be detected over relatively short intervals from the earliest stages of multiple sclerosis (MS). Reviewing the published data, the authors highlight some hypothetical pathological mechanisms proposed as determinants of brain atrophy. ⋯ Examination of the pathological mechanisms proposed in the reviewed studies led the authors to believe that inflammation is only in part responsible for the development of brain atrophy. This conclusion may have an implication for the strategies of tissue protection advocated in the early stages of the RR course and strengthen recent evidence indicating that anti-inflammatory immunomodulatory agents and immunosuppressive treatments, which predominantly act against the inflammatory component of disease activity, may not have similar effects on progressive tissue loss, either in RR or progressive MS.