J Neuroradiology
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In clinical studies, evaluating residual fiber tracts in spinal cord injuries poses serious difficulties, whereas diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can assess alterations in fiber structural integrity. For this reason, this study aimed to determine changes in the structural integrity of residual fiber tracts via fractional anisotropy (FA) variations and fiber-tracking patterns in patients with chronic traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). ⋯ Specific FA variations were observed in residual fibers, suggesting that DTI may be a useful tool for evaluating residual tracts in SCI patients.
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Case Reports
Percutaneous vertebroplasty of the C2 body and dens using the anterior oblique ascending transdiscal approach.
This first description of percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) of the second cervical vertebra (C2) using an ascending oblique transdiscal approach is a case report of a 63-year-old woman who complained of neck pain that was resistant to painkillers and the result of an osteolytic metastatic lesion of C2. PVP was performed using an ascending oblique transdiscal approach, a percutaneous technique that had never been described before. It has since been used in more than 15 patients, resulting in pain relief and stabilization of C2 with good distribution of cement across the vertebral body and dens. Also, there were no complications and no leakage of cement along the path of the needle.
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Daily intake of aspirin was shown to decrease human cerebral aneurysm rupture by 60%. The feasibility of imaging macrophages in human cerebral aneurysm walls using ferumoxytol-enhanced MRI has been demonstrated. The goal of the present study is to image aspirin effect on macrophages in the wall of human cerebral aneurysm using ferumoxytol-enhanced MRI. ⋯ These preliminary results suggest the feasibility of imaging aspirin effect on macrophages localized in the wall of human cerebral aneurysm using ferumoxytol-enhanced MRI. The findings provide radiographic evidence of decreased inflammation in human cerebral aneurysms with daily intake of aspirin using macrophages as a surrogate marker for inflammation.
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Ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) particles to enhance MRI have been used to study neuroinflammation in vivo. Our purpose was to observe the USPIO-enhanced MR signal alterations in the primary ischemic lesion and ipsilateral substantia nigra after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) to verify the subsequent sequelae of neuroinflammation seen in the primary ischemic focus and secondary degeneration region. ⋯ USPIO-enhanced MR signals have variable characteristics in both primary and remote sites after focal cerebral ischemia. This suggests that the neuroinflammatory response to brain ischemia in the primary ischemic focus and secondary degeneration region have different temporal patterns and pathophysiological mechanisms.