Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging
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Comparative Study
Reduced Field of View Diffusion-Weighted Imaging in the Evaluation of Congenital Spine Malformations.
Reduced field of view diffusion-weighted imaging (rFOV DWI) is a more recently described technique in the evaluation of spine pathology. In adults, this technique has been shown to increase clinician confidence in identification of diffusion restricting lesions. ⋯ rFOV DWI of the lumbar spine in the pediatric population has qualitatively improved image quality and observer confidence for lesion detection when compared to conventional fFOV SS-EPI DWI.
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Low-grade and anaplastic oligodendrogliomas are often difficult to differentiate on the basis of conventional MR imaging characteristics. Dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI can assess tumor microvasculature and has demonstrated utility for predicting glioma grade and prognosis in primary brain tumors. The aim of our study was to evaluate the performance of plasma volume (Vp) and volume transfer coefficient (K(trans) ) derived from DCE MRI in differentiating between grade II and grade III oligodendrogliomas. ⋯ The results of our study suggest the DCE MRI parameter Vpmean can noninvasively differentiate between grade II and grade III oligodendrogliomas.
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The evolution of intracerebral hematoma and perihematoma edema in the ultra-early period on computed tomographic (CT) scans in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is not well understood. We aimed to investigate hematoma and perihematoma changes in "neutral brain" models of ICH. ⋯ Our study demonstrated that substantial hematoma retraction and perihematoma hypodensity occurs in ICH in the absence of any new bleeding or biological activity of surrounding brain. Such observations suggest that active bleeding is underestimated in patients with no or small hematoma expansion and our understanding of perihematoma hypodensity needs to be reconsidered.
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Success in clinical trials of intracranial atherosclerosis (ICAS) is related to accurate identification of high-risk patients. Noninvasive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) of stenotic lesions may enhance therapeutic decision-making. We determined whether physiologic parameters change downstream cerebral hemodynamics in patients with ICAS. ⋯ Our study showed that systolic BP along with the degree of stenosis was associated with pressure decreases across stenotic lesions. Physiologic conditions may superimpose further changes in post-stenotic or downstream blood flow.
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Comparative Study
Detection of Right-to-Left Cardiac Shunt in the Absence of Transcranial Acoustic Bone.
Paradoxical thrombotic embolism via right-to-left cardiac shunt (RLS) is a risk factor of cryptogenic ischemic stroke. Transtemporal Doppler (TTD) is a valid method used in the detection of patent foramen ovale (PFO). Temporal acoustic bone windows are missing with increasing age and in some younger subjects. We studied prospectively whether Doppler ultrasound of the cervical arteries (submandibular internal carotid artery [ICA] and vertebral artery [VA]) is an alternative, when compared to TTD, in the detection and quantification of PFO. ⋯ When transcranial acoustic bone windows are missing, Doppler ultrasound of the cervical submandibular ICA and VAs are valid screening methods to detect RLS due to a PFO.