Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Post-stroke blood-brain barrier disruption predicts poor outcome in patients enrolled in the ACTION study.
A prior study found a link between post-stroke blood-brain barrier disruption and functional outcomes. The current study aimed to replicate this finding in a cohort of patients recruited in the context of a randomized clinical trial. ⋯ With sufficient image quality, elevated BBPI measured in the days after an ischemic event is predictive of worse functional outcome and may serve as a biomarker for post-stroke inflammation.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
MRI to detect and localize the area postrema in multiple sclerosis: The role of 3D-DIR and 3D-FLAIR.
Area postrema (AP) is a highly vascularized paired 2 mm-long anatomical structure, localized on the dorsal inferior surface of the medulla oblongata, at the caudal end of the fourth-ventricle. AP is principally affected in AP syndrome, which is commonly associated with autoimmune inflammatory diseases, including essentially neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). The aim of this study is to assess the best cerebral MRI sequences and planes for AP detection in order to assist or aid in the diagnosis of difficult NMOSD cases. ⋯ As evidenced, AP was easily assessed on 3DDIR and 3DFLAIR emphasizing the importance of adding these sequences to NMOSD MRI-protocols. Moreover, the most effective imaging plane in identifying AP was the axial plane.
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Assessment of the essential white matter fibers of arcuate fasciculus and corticospinal tract (CST), required for preoperative planning in brain tumor patients, relies on the reliability of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The recent development of multiband DTI (mb-DTI) based on simultaneous multislice excitation could maintain the overall quality of tractography while not exceeding standard clinical care time. To address this potential, we performed quantitative analyses to evaluate tractography results of arcuate fasciculus and CST acquired by mb-DTI in brain tumor patients. ⋯ This study demonstrated the clinical potential and significant advantages of preoperative mb-DTI in brain tumor patients.
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Although ophthalmic complaints were mostly mentioned in thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO), emotional and psychological disturbances are increasingly concerned. We aimed to investigate the brain functional alteration in TAO patients by using resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) with the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo), and degree centrality (DC) methods. ⋯ Our findings indicated that TAO patients had brain functional alterations in the visual network, executive control network, sensorimotor network, and attention network, which may reflect potential visual and cognitive dysfunctions.
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To investigate the reorganization of the central nervous system provided by resting state-functional MRI (rs-fMRI), graph-theoretical analysis, and a newly developed functional brain network disruption index in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. ⋯ Our study demonstrates that rs-fMRI combined with advanced graph theoretical analysis and disruption indices is able to detect early and subtle functional changes of brain networks in HIV patients.