Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging
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Case Reports
Concurrent West Nile virus infection in pneumococcal meningitis: clinical and MRI features.
We report the clinical and neuroimaging findings of an immunocompetent patient with concurrent pneumococcal and West Nile virus meningoencephalitis with relapsing clinical course despite a full course of antibiotic treatment. The patient developed acute oculomotor nerve palsy with pupillary involvement and bilateral hearing loss, and delayed right leg monoparesis. We speculate that coexisting bacterial and viral neuroinvasive infections contributed to the unusual clinical and imaging manifestations, and that overwhelming laboratory and clinical features of bacterial meningitis masked the typical features of CNS viral infection. Therefore, atypical presentations of bacterial meningitis should raise a high index of suspicion for coexisting infections, even in immunocompetent patients, and evolving neuroimaging findings may be helpful in substantiating clinical suspicion and guiding further management.
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Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is useful for multiple clinical applications, but its routine implementation for children may be difficult due to long scan times. This study evaluates the impact of decreasing the number of DTI acquisitions (NEX) on interpretability of pediatric brain DTI. ⋯ Reducing NEX to shorten imaging time may impact clinical utility in a manner that does not directly correspond with SNR changes.
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Studies on Whites and Asians have shown contradictory results on the association between an incomplete circle of Willis (CoW) and white matter disease (WMD). We evaluated such relationship in Ecuadorian Mestizos. ⋯ In the Ecuadorian Mestizo population, WMD occurrence and severity do not seem to be related to incompleteness of the CoW.
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To investigate the impact of regression methods on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI). During rsfMRI preprocessing, regression analysis is considered effective for reducing the interference of physiological noise on the signal time course. However, it is unclear whether the regression method benefits rsfMRI analysis. ⋯ rsfMRI data processed using regression should be interpreted carefully. The significance of the anticorrelated brain areas produced by global signal removal is unclear.
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Clinical Trial
Radiation injury to the normal brain measured by 3D-echo-planar spectroscopic imaging and diffusion tensor imaging: initial experience.
Whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) may cause cognitive and neuropsychological impairment and hence objective assessment of adverse effects of radiation may be valuable to plan therapy. The purpose of our study was to determine the potential of echo planar spectroscopic imaging (EPSI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in detecting subacute radiation induced injury to the normal brain. ⋯ Our preliminary findings suggest that 3D-EPSI and DTI may provide quantitative measures of radiation induced injury to the normal brain.