Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging
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To investigate accumulative aging effects on neurometabolism in human brain and to collect a reference dataset. ⋯ Age-related accumulative metabolic changes in aging human brain correlated with reduced neuronal metabolic activity and density, reflected by decreased NAA, reduced mitochondrial activity by decreased ATP, and reduced membrane synthesis by decreased PME. These changes are associated with age-related decrease of neuronal volume. Global NAA and ATP might be used as surrogate biomarker for monitoring aging in human brain.
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Surgery is the first choice therapeutic approach in case of drug-resistant epilepsy. Unfortunately, up to 43% of patients referred for presurgical assessment do not have a lesion detectable by routine 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (MRI-negative), although most of them likely have an underlying epileptogenic lesion. Thus, new MRI modalities with increased sensibility for epileptogenic lesions are required. This paper describes the magnetization-prepared two rapid acquisition gradient echoes (MP2RAGE) and susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) findings at 7T in a series of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy of different etiologies. ⋯ MRI at ultra-high field is very promising for the detection of inconspicuous epileptogenic lesions and may facilitate epilepsy surgery of a great number of to-date MRI-negative patients.
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The differentiation of primary intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) from parenchymal hemorrhagic transformation within an ischemic infarction (PHI) is crucial in order to adapt therapeutic measures. We hypothesized that a distinction of ICH and PHI can be made at bedside via transcranial gray-scale and perfusion sonography. ⋯ Differentiation of ICH and PHI via multimodal transcranial sonography with mismatch imaging is possible. Since sonographic imaging as a bedside-method is cost- as well as time-efficient, it may be a helpful tool for differentiation between these two entities particularly in critically ill patients with unclear ICH.
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The purpose of this review is to provide an update on technology related to Transcranial Color Coded Doppler Examinations. Microvascularization (MicroV) is an emerging Power Doppler technology which can allow visualization of low and weak blood flows even at high depths, thus providing a suitable technique for transcranial ultrasound analysis. With MicroV, reconstruction of the vessel shape can be improved, without any overestimation. ⋯ In further neurosonology technology development efforts, attempts have been made to address morphology issues and overcome technical limitations. The use of contrast agents has helped in this regard by introducing harmonics and subtraction software, which allowed better morphological studies of vessels, due to their increased signal-to-noise ratio. Having no limitations in the learning curve, in time and contrast agent techniques, and due to its high signal-to-noise ratio, MicroV has shown great potential to obtain the best morphological definition.
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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is crucial for in vivo detection and characterization of white matter lesions (WMLs) in multiple sclerosis. While WMLs have been studied for over two decades using MRI, automated segmentation remains challenging. Although the majority of statistical techniques for the automated segmentation of WMLs are based on single imaging modalities, recent advances have used multimodal techniques for identifying WMLs. Complementary modalities emphasize different tissue properties, which help identify interrelated features of lesions. ⋯ MIMoSA resulted in statistically significant improvements in lesion segmentation performance compared with LesionTOADS and OASIS, and performed competitively in an additional validation study.