Neuroimaging clinics of North America
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Different types of malformations share a dilated vein of Galen, but only one of them is a true vein of Galen aneurysmal malformation (VGAM). The optimal window of opportunity for treatment is between 4 and 5 years of months [corrected], because this allows the child to grow and mature. ⋯ The transvenous approach carries significantly elevated morbidity and mortality and is rarely indicated. Anatomic cure of the VGAM is not the main goal of treatment; the ultimate goal is control of the malformation to allow the brain to mature and develop normally.
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Neuroimaging Clin. N. Am. · Feb 2007
ReviewDemyelinating and infectious diseases of the spinal cord.
Spinal cord diseases generally have distinctive clinical findings that reflect dysfunction of particular sensory or motor tracts. The abnormalities on MR images reflect the pathologic changes that occur in the affected pathways. The complexity and the wide spectrum of diseases affecting the spinal cord require a profound knowledge of neuropathology and exactly tuned imaging strategies. This article describes and illustrates the clinical and imaging characteristics in various demyelinating and infectious conditions of the spinal cord.
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Neuroimaging Clin. N. Am. · Feb 2007
ReviewDiffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging and fiber tracking in spinal cord lesions: current and future indications.
Diffusion-weighted imaging and fractional anisotropy may be more sensitive than other conventional magnetic resonance imaging techniques to detect, characterize, and map the extent of spinal cord lesions. Fiber tracking offers the possibility of visualizing the integrity of white matter tracts surrounding some lesions, and this information may help in formulating a differential diagnosis and in planning biopsies or resection. Fractional anisotropy measurements may also play a role in predicting the outcome of patients who have spinal cord lesions. In this article, we address several conditions in which diffusion-weighted imaging and fiber tracking is known to be useful and speculate on others in which we believe these techniques will be useful in the near future.
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Neuroimaging Clin. N. Am. · Nov 2006
ReviewMR spectroscopy: truly molecular imaging; past, present and future.
MR spectroscopy involves the examination of molecules in a much more transparent manner than does routine, clinical, conventional MR imaging. Its performance and interpretation goes back to the origins of MR imaging in nuclear magnetic resonance and also points to a future in which functional type techniques such as molecular imaging tell more than simple anatomy, but also the physiology of what is seen when looking at a patient's radiological images. A brief discussion of the past, present, and appreciation of MR spectroscopy as a molecular imaging modality. Several techniques, applications, and controversies aso are discussed in this article.
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Many breakthrough scientific discoveries have been made using opioid imaging, particularly in the fields of pain, addiction and epilepsy research. Recent developments include the application of ever higher resolution whole-brain positron emission tomography (PET) scanners, the availability of several radioligands, the combination of PET with advanced structural imaging, advances in modeling macroparameters of PET ligand binding, and large-scale statistical analysis of imaging datasets. Suitable single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) tracers are lacking, but with the increase in the number of available PET (or PET/CT) cameras and cyclotrons thanks to the clinical successes of PET in oncology, PET may become widespread enough to overcome this limitation. In the coming decade, we hope to see a more widespread application of the techniques developed in healthy volunteers to patients and more clinical impact of opioid imaging.