Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging
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MRI enables detailed in vivo depiction of multiple sclerosis (MS) pathology. Localized areas of MS damage, commonly referred to as lesions, or plaques, have been a focus of clinical and research MRI studies for over four decades. A nonplaque MRI abnormality which is present in at least 25% of MS patients but has received far less attention is diffusely abnormal white matter (DAWM). ⋯ Given the prevalence and potential clinical impact of DAWM, the number of imaging studies focusing on DAWM is insufficient. Characterization of DAWM significance and microstructure would benefit from larger longitudinal and additional quantitative imaging efforts. Revisiting data from previous studies that included proton density and T2 imaging would enable retrospective DAWM identification and analysis.
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Super-resolutionreconstruction (SRR) can be used to reconstruct 3-dimensional (3D) high-resolution (HR) volume from several 2-dimensional (2D) low-resolution (LR) stacks of MRI slices. The purpose is to compare lengthy 2D T2-weighted HR image acquisition of neonatal subjects with 3D SRR from several LR stacks in terms of image quality for clinical and morphometric assessments. ⋯ Qualitative and quantitative assessments showed that 3D SRR of several LR images produces images that are of comparable quality to standard 2D HR image acquisition for healthy neonatal imaging without loss of anatomical details with similar edge definition allowing the detection of fine anatomical structures and permitting comparable morphometric measurement.
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This study aims todetermine the sensitivity of superficial white matter (SWM) integrity as a metric to distinguish early multiple sclerosis (MS) patients from healthy controls (HC). ⋯ Our results reveal a non-random pattern of SWM abnormalities at early stages of MS even before pronounced structural and functional alterations emerge.
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Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) allows the quantification of water diffusivity within the cerebral cortex. Alterations in cortical mean diffusivity (MD) have been suggested to reflect microstructural damage. Interestingly, microstructural changes can be detected in the absence of macrostructural alterations such as cortical thinning or gray matter volume loss. ⋯ Importantly, microstructural damage significantly correlated with cognitive performance and biomarker measures, suggesting a potential role for its use in clinical trials as a sensitive imaging marker of neurodegeneration. Given that DTI is a widely available imaging modality, these encouraging results motivate further research using this novel neuroimaging metric in other clinical contexts. Overall, this technique has shed light into the key role of early cortical degeneration in many diseases where cortical involvement was previously thought to have limited clinical and biological significance.
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The main radiological finding in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is reduced midbrain volume. Both qualitative (e.g., hummingbird sign) and quantitative (e.g., area measurements) markers have been noted. Recent studies have shown a similar reduction also in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH). The purpose was to investigate the reliability and accuracy of these markers in discriminating PSP from iNPH and controls. ⋯ Measuring sagittal midbrain area is more accurate and reliable than visual assessment. Due to significant overlap in appearance, a midbrain with a hummingbird sign or reduced sagittal area should raise the suspicion of PSP only after other signs of iNPH have been considered.