Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging
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Quantitative neuroimaging is an important part of multiple sclerosis research and clinical trials, and measures of lesion volume (LV) and brain atrophy are key clinical trial endpoints. However, translation of these endpoints to heterogeneous historical datasets and nonstandardized clinical routine imaging has been difficult. The NeuroSTREAM technique was recently introduced as a robust and broadly applicable surrogate for brain atrophy measurement, but no such surrogate currently exists for conventional T2-LV. Therefore, we sought to develop a fully automated proxy for T2-LV with similar analytic value but increased robustness to common issues arising in clinical routine imaging. ⋯ SCLV is a robust, fully-automated proxy for T2-LV in situations where conventional T2-LV is not easily or reliably calculated.
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Cerebral Gray and White Matter Involvement in Anorexia Nervosa Evaluated by T1, T2, and T2* Mapping.
Changes in the brain composition of anorexics could potentially be expected, opening the door to new imaging approaches where quantitative and qualitative MRI have a role. Our purpose was to investigate anorexia-related brain dehydration and myelin depletion by analyzing T1, T2, and T2* relaxation times of different brain structures in anorexics and controls. ⋯ T1 shortening in anorexics suggests both dehydration and myelin loss, whereas T2 prolongation points toward myelin loss (myelin water has lower T2), which seems to be less discernible in white matter. Shorter overall relaxation times in the most posterior regions of the brain suggest higher iron content.
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Multicenter Study
Multicenter Volumetric Assessment of Artifactual Hypoperfusion Patterns using Automated CT Perfusion Imaging.
Automated computed tomography perfusion (CTP) is recommended to inform selection of stroke patients for thrombectomy >6 hours from last known normal (LKN). However, artifacts on automated perfusion output may overestimate the tissue at risk leading to misclassification of thrombectomy eligibility in some patients. ⋯ Nearly half of patients had evidence of artifactual penumbral imaging on automated CTP, which rarely lead to misclassification of thrombectomy eligibility. Although artifactual findings are reliably identified by trained raters, our results emphasize the need to evaluate CTP results with knowledge of the patient's clinical symptoms and vascular imaging.
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The embryologic development of the spinal cord is a remarkably complex process. Spinal abnormalities can occur in isolation or be part of a clinical syndrome commonly summarized as spinal dysraphism. Proper evaluation of spinal malformations with imaging is required for early diagnosis prior to counseling and selection of postnatal treatment options. ⋯ It is critical to follow a strict protocol in an attempt to precisely identify all imaging findings, one should be familiar with the normal ultrasonographic appearance of bony and soft tissue structures in the various planes and one should be able to correlate the abnormal findings with spinal cord embryology as it aids in identifying the etiology. US should be considered as a first-line imaging for neonates suspected of spinal anomalies. In this article, we discuss up-to-date US technique of the spine, the most frequently encountered neonatal spinal malformations seen with US and correlate these findings with the relevant embryologic processes.
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In this pilot study, we investigated functional brain activation changes in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) in remission compared to age and gender-matched healthy controls (HCs). ⋯ These results suggest that CD patients in remission may show accelerated signs of aging in terms of brain responses to a typical cognitive task. Future work with larger sample size will need to replicate these results as well as investigate the influence of factors, such as chronicity of the disease and medication effects on task-associated brain activation patterns in this patient population.