Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging
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Endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) caused by large vessel occlusion requires rapid and reliable imaging of the vessel course including the clot to reduce complications and ensure success. However, no method to acquire this information has been established. ⋯ PDW-VISTA imaging was found to more clearly depict the cerebral vessels including occluded lesion than T2W-VISTA imaging. Findings of thrombus size and length were important for correctly placing the stent retriever and securing safety during the procedure.
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Several distinct conditions present as cystic or pseudocystic lesions within the spinal canal. Some of the most common spinal cystic lesions include spinal meningeal cysts, juxtafacet cysts, dermoid/epidermoid cysts, nerve sheath tumors, and syringohydromyelia. Clinical presentation is usually nonspecific and imaging characteristics are frequently overlapping, which may pose a challenging presurgical diagnosis. ⋯ It provides accurate lesion localization and characterization and, most of the times, it will allow a confident differential diagnosis. High-resolution three-dimensional T2-weighted sequences and diffusion-weighted imaging can provide important hints in specific cases. Signal correlation with T1-weighted and fat-saturated sequences allows to differentiate true cystic lesions from hemorrhage or fat tissue.
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Subtle cognitive decline represents a stage of cognitive deterioration in which pathological biomarkers may be present, including early cortical atrophy and amyloid deposition. Using individual items from the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and k-modes cluster analysis, we previously identified three clusters of individuals without overt cognitive impairment: (1) High Performing (no deficits in performance), (2) Memory Deficits (lower memory performance), and (3) Compound Deficits (lower memory and executive function performance). In this study, we sought to understand the relationships found in our clusters between cortical atrophy on MR and amyloid burden on PET. ⋯ The Compound Deficits cluster, which represents a group potentially at higher risk for decline, was observed to have significantly more cortical atrophy, particularly within the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus, associated with whole brain and frontal lobe amyloid burden. These findings point to a pattern of early pathological deterioration that may place these individuals at risk for future decline.
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Pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (POMS) shows earlier axonal involvement and greater axonal loss than in adults. We aim to characterize the white matter (WM) microstructural changes in POMS using a diffusion compartment imaging (DCI) model and compare it to standard diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). ⋯ Lesions in POMS can be accurately characterized by a DCI model. Incipient changes in NAWM seen in DCI may not be readily observable by DTI.
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Early diagnosis of cognitive impairment is important because symptoms can be delayed through therapies. Synaptic disconnections are the key characteristics of dementia, and through nonlinear complexity analysis of brain function, it is possible to identify long-range synaptic disconnections in the brain. ⋯ Current findings suggest that combining measures of neural network and motor function, in addition to neuropsychological testing, may provide an accurate tool for assessing early-stage cognitive impairment and age-related decline in cognition.