Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging
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MRI is a powerful tool for the diagnosis and management for a variety of central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) nanoparticles are a novel category of MRI contrast agents that seem to play a crucial role in the imaging of CNS. Due to their physical properties, USPIOs act as blood pool agents. ⋯ The last few years, ferumoxytol has been successfully used to image CNS neoplasms, CNS inflammations and cerebral malformations offering useful information on cellular and molecular level. In addition, ferumoxytol studies focused on the pathophysiology of other CNS disorders like multiple sclerosis and epilepsy are already in progress. Aim of this review article is to provide the potential role of USPIO-enhanced MRI and the latest clinical applications of ferumoxytol agent in CNS imaging.
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This study investigates the diagnostic value of optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) assessed by transorbital sonography for estimation of intracranial pressure (ICP) in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). ⋯ In patients with SAH and acute hydrocephalus after aneurysm rupture, the ONSD remains expanded after normalization of ICP. This is most likely due to an impaired retraction capability of the optic nerve sheath. This finding should be considered when using transorbital sonography in the neuromonitoring of aneurysmal SAH.
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Imaging biomarkers of disease progression are desirable in inherited ataxias. MRI has demonstrated brain damage in Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) in form of regional atrophy of the medulla, peridentate cerebellar white matter (WM) and superior cerebellar peduncles (visible in T1-weighted images) and of change of microstructural characteristics of WM tracts of the brainstem, cerebellar peduncles, cerebellum, and supratentorial structures (visible through diffusion-weighted imaging). We explored the potential of brain MR morphometry and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to track the progression of neurodegeneration in FRDA. ⋯ DTI can track brain microstructural changes in FRDA and can be considered a potential biomarker of disease progression.
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Fetal anterior, middle, and posterior cerebral arteries have been studied using transabdominal Doppler ultrasound. We performed a feasibility study to determine whether basilar artery can be identified and blood flow velocities measured using transabdominal fetal Doppler ultrasound. ⋯ We demonstrate the feasibility of fetal basilar artery insonation using directional color Doppler ultrasound via transabdominal approach.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of Glioblastomas and Brain Metastases using Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Perfusion MRI.
To compare glioblastoma and brain metastases using T1-weighted dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)-MRI perfusion technique. ⋯ DCE-MRI showed that it has a potential to differentiate glioblastomas, melanoma metastases and hypovascular brain tumors. Logarithmic slope of the washout phase and AUC of the signal intensity time curve were shown to be the best discriminator between hypervascular and hypovascular neoplasms.