Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging
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Brain mapping studies have demonstrated that functional poststroke brain reorganization is associated with recovery of motor function. Nonetheless, the specific mechanisms associated with functional reorganization leading to motor recovery are still partly unknown. In this study, we performed a cross-sectional evaluation of poststroke subjects with the following goals: (1) To assess intra- and interhemispheric functional brain activation patterns associated with motor function in poststroke patients with variable degrees of recovery; (2) to investigate the involvement of other nonmotor functional networks in relationship with recovery. ⋯ Functional recovery after stroke is associated with preserved functional connectivity of motor to nonmotor networks.
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We detected a novel imaging sign, which consists of a specific imaging pattern of diffuse susceptibility effect, delineating the cortical-subcortical junction on high-resolution susceptibility-weighted images (SWIs). We describe magnetic resonance imaging findings in 10 patients with "susceptibility etching" and possible association with their abnormal coagulation profile. ⋯ In this preliminary case series, we describe patients with "susceptibility etching" on SWI who were also found to have profound coagulation impairment. While other comorbities may also contribute to this novel sign, we suggest that a possible etiology may be secondary to microvascular in situ formation of fine thrombi and/or emboli lodged into an area of vascular caliber reduction and maybe related to thrombotic microangiopathy.
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Spinal cord atrophy occurs early in the multiple sclerosis (MS) disease course, is closely related to physical disability, and is a putative neuroprotective therapeutic outcome measure. ⋯ In this pilot study of RRMS, GA therapy was not associated with any ongoing spinal cord atrophy or any difference in the one-year rate of spinal cord area change versus healthy controls. These results paralleled the lack of clinical worsening and may reflect a treatment effect of GA. Further studies are needed to confirm these preliminary findings.
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Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has previously been used as a biomarker of myelopathy in patients with degenerative cervical cord compression (DCCC). However, many factors may affect the diffusion properties of the spinal cord. This prospective study seeks to identify sources of variability in spinal cord DTI parameters in both DCCC patients and healthy subjects. ⋯ Diffusion parameters of the cervical spinal cord were thus shown to respond significantly to spinal cord compression, but were subject to interaction with several other factors including sex, age, and SCL. These findings may be important to the interpretation of DTI measurements in individual patients.
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Previous T2*-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have used white matter lesion (WML) central veins to distinguish multiple sclerosis (MS) from its mimics. To be clinically applicable, the "central vein sign" needs to be detectable across different T2* sequences. Our objective was to determine if the central vein sign is reliably present in MS and absent in patients with ischemic small vessel disease (SVD) across different T2* sequences at 3T MRI. ⋯ The central vein sign can diagnose MS in the clinical setting of modern 3T scanners. However, variations in the T2* sequences need to be considered when defining a threshold for diagnosis.