ASSOCIATION ASSESSMENT BETWEEN DIFFUSION TENSOR MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING INDICES AND CLINICAL DISABILITIES IN MS PATIENTS

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (05) ◽  
pp. 1650034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vania Karami ◽  
Rasoul Mahdavifar Khayati ◽  
S. Massood Nabavi

Purpose: Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI) has the ability to gather information on tissue microstructure by using the indices that quantify the anisotropy of water diffusion in tissues. This study was designed to find out the impact of patient clinical disability on diffusion tensor (DT) indices. Method: In this paper, images were generated from the data acquired at 3T among 25 MS patients (mean age [Formula: see text] years old). DT indices including fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), relative anisotropy (RA), and volume ratio (VR) of multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions are calculated and the correlation between Kurtzke expanded disability status scale (EDSS) score and the values of DT indices of 25 MS patients lesions are obtained. The correlation comparison procedure is done between the EDSS scores and DT indices in MS lesions attained, respectively, from fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) images and black holes of T1-weighted (T1-w) images. Results: EDSS scores and DT indices of MS lesions extracted from the black holes present in T1-w images are more correlated in comparison with those extracted from FLAIR images. It is found that MD has a significant correlation with EDSS in both types of images. The results of FLAIR image processing indicates that any increase in EDSS leads to decreasing FA and RA on one hand and increasing MD and VR on the other hand. The correlation between the identical size of lesions in different parts of brain with EDSS shows that the location of lesion in brain also has a correlation with EDSS. Conclusion: The results showed, MD is the best biomarker of clinical disability between these four DT indices. It is also concluded that the correlation between DT indices of frontal brain lesions and EDSS is higher than the other selected brain parts.

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 620-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
MA Rocca ◽  
M Sonkin ◽  
M Copetti ◽  
E Pagani ◽  
DL Arnold ◽  
...  

Objectives: Active myelination during childhood may influence the impact of multiple sclerosis (MS) on brain structural integrity. We studied normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) in children with MS onset before age 12 years using diffusion tensor (DT) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods: DT MRI scans were obtained from 22 MS children with their first attack before age 12 years, and 31 healthy controls from two referral centers. Using probabilistic tractography, brain tissue integrity within interhemispheric, intrahemispheric, and projection tracts was compared between patients and site-matched controls. The impact of disease and age at MRI on tract NAWM fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) values was evaluated using linear models. Results: Compared to controls, pediatric MS patients had reduced FA and increased MD of the bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus and corpus callosum (CC), without center-by-group interaction. CC NAWM average FA was correlated with brain T2 lesion volume. In controls, the majority of the tracts analyzed showed a significant increase of FA and decrease of MD with age. Such a linear correlation was lost in patients. Conclusions: In very young pediatric MS patients, DT MRI abnormalities affect brain WM tracts differentially, and are only partially correlated with focal WM lesions. Impaired maturation of WM tracts with age may be an additional factor contributing to these findings.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuang Ding ◽  
Yu Guo ◽  
Xiaoya Chen ◽  
Silin Du ◽  
Yongliang Han ◽  
...  

AbstractThe aim of this study was to investigate the mechanisms underlying demyelination and remyelination with 7.0 T multiparameter magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in an alternative cuprizone (CPZ) mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS). Sixty mice were divided into six groups (n = 10, each), and these groups were imaged with 7.0 T multiparameter MRI and treated with an alternative CPZ administration schedule. T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were used to compare the splenium of the corpus callosum (sCC) among the groups. Prussian blue and Luxol fast blue staining were performed to assess pathology. The correlations of the mean grayscale value (mGSV) of the pathology results and the MRI metrics were analyzed to evaluate the multiparameter MRI results. One-way ANOVA and post hoc comparison showed that the normalized T2WI (T2-nor), fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), radial diffusivity (RD), and axial diffusivity (AD) values were significantly different among the six groups, while the mean phase (Φ) value of SWI was not significantly different among the groups. Correlation analysis showed that the correlation between the T2-nor and mGSV was higher than that among the other values. The correlations among the FA, RD, MD, and mGSV remained instructive. In conclusion, ultrahigh-field multiparameter MRI can reflect the pathological changes associated with and the underlying mechanisms of demyelination and remyelination in MS after the successful establishment of an acute CPZ-induced model.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph S. R. Alisch ◽  
Matthew Kiely ◽  
Curtis Triebswetter ◽  
Maryam H. Alsameen ◽  
Zhaoyuan Gong ◽  
...  

The choroid plexus (CP) is an important cerebral structure involved in cerebrospinal fluid production and transport of solutes into the brain. Recent studies have uncovered the involvement of the CP in neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis. However, our understanding of human age-related microstructural and functional changes in the CP with aging and neuropathology is limited. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated age and sex differences in the CP structure and function using advanced quantitative magnetic resonance imaging methodology in a large cohort (n = 155) of cognitively unimpaired individuals over a wide age range between 21 and 94 years. Our analysis included volumetric measurements, relaxometry measures (T1 and T2), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures of fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD), as well as measures of cerebral blood flow (CBF). Our results revealed that CP volume was increasing with advancing age. We conjecture that this novel observation is likely attributed to alterations in the CP microstructure or function as well as to ventriculomegaly. Indeed, we also found that CBF was lower with advanced age, while, consistent with previous studies, T1, T2 and MD were higher, and FA was lower with advanced age. We attribute these functional and microstructural differences to a deteriorated CP structural integrity with aging. Furthermore, our relaxometry and DTI measures were found to be associated with differences in blood perfusion revealing lower microstructural integrity with lower CBF. Finally, in agreement with literature, sex-related differences in MD and CBF were statistically significant. This work lays the foundation for ongoing investigation of the involvement of CP in neurodegeneration.


2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Feinstein ◽  
P. O'Connor ◽  
N. Akbar ◽  
L. Moradzadeh ◽  
CJM Scott ◽  
...  

Depression is common in patients with multiple sclerosis, but to date no studies have explored diffusion tensor imaging indices associated with mood change. This study aimed to determine cerebral correlates of depression in multiple sclerosis patients using diffusion tensor imaging. Sixty-two subjects with multiple sclerosis were assessed for depression with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). All subjects underwent magnetic resonance imaging. Whole brain and regional volumes were calculated for lesions (hyper/hypointense) and normal-appearing white and grey matter. Fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity were calculated for each brain region. Magnetic resonance imaging comparisons were undertaken between depressed (Beck Depression Inventory ≥19) and non-depressed subjects. Depressed subjects (n = 30) had a higher hypointense lesion volume in the right medial inferior frontal region, a smaller normal-appearing white matter volume in the left superior frontal region, and lower fractional anisotropy and higher mean diffusivity in the left anterior temporal normal-appearing white matter and normal-appearing grey matter regions, respectively. Depressed subjects also had higher mean diffusivity in right inferior frontal hyperintense lesions. Magnetic resonance imaging variables contributed to 43% of the depression variance. We conclude that the presence of more marked diffusion tensor imaging abnormalities in the normal-appearing white matter and normal-appearing grey matter of depressed subjects highlights the importance of more subtle measures of structural brain change in the pathogenesis of depression.


2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. 7227-7234
Author(s):  
Nourhan Zayed

Synathesia is a condition in which stimulation of a sensory modality triggers another sensation in the alike or an unalike sensory modality. Currently, synaesthesia is deemed a neurological condition that engages unwanted transfer of signals between brain regions from one sense to another “crosstalk activation”. The probability that undiagnosed synaesthesia may impact the results of structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Diffusion Tensor imaging (DTI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and resting state connectivity studies is high, given the multiple anatomical and functional connections within the brain. In this paper, the currently available literature to mark which sensations adjured by synaesthesia and how could this impact MRI different modalities. Our study found that synaesthesia can have an opaque impact on fMRI studies of sensory, memory and cognitive functions, and there is testimony to suggest structural connections in the brain are also mutated DTI measurements especially, it shows enhanced structural connectivity for synesthetes between brain regions, higher Fractional anisotropy (FA), as well as increased in the white matter integrity between some regions.. Given the low dispersal of synaesthesia, the likelihood of synaesthesia being a perplexing factor in DTI, fMRI studies of patient groups is small; however, determining the existence of synaesthesia is paramount for investigating individual patients especially Shizoherenia, and autistic patients.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 205521731665536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Klineova ◽  
Rebecca Farber ◽  
Catarina Saiote ◽  
Colleen Farrell ◽  
Bradley N Delman ◽  
...  

Objective/Background The majority of multiple sclerosis patients experience impaired walking ability, which impacts quality of life. Timed 25-foot walk is commonly used to gauge gait impairment but results can be broadly variable. Objective biological markers that correlate closely with patients’ disability are needed. Diffusion tensor imaging, quantifying fiber tract integrity, might provide such information. In this project we analyzed relationships between timed 25-foot walk, conventional and diffusion tensor imaging magnetic resonance imaging markers. Design/Methods A cohort of gait impaired multiple sclerosis patients underwent brain and cervical spinal cord magnetic resonance imaging. Diffusion tensor imaging mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy were measured on the brain corticospinal tracts and spinal restricted field of vision at C2/3. We analyzed relationships between baseline timed 25-foot walk, conventional and diffusion tensor imaging magnetic resonance imaging markers. Results Multivariate linear regression analysis showed a statistically significant association between several magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging metrics and timed 25-foot walk: brain mean diffusivity corticospinal tracts (p = 0.004), brain corticospinal tracts axial and radial diffusivity (P = 0.004 and 0.02), grey matter volume (p = 0.05), white matter volume (p = 0.03) and normalized brain volume (P = 0.01). The linear regression model containing mean diffusivity corticospinal tracts and controlled for gait assistance was the best fit model (p = 0.004). Conclusions Our results suggest an association between diffusion tensor imaging metrics and gait impairment, evidenced by brain mean diffusivity corticospinal tracts and timed 25-foot walk.


2021 ◽  
pp. 197140092098866
Author(s):  
Daniel Thomas Ginat ◽  
James Kenniff

Background The COVID-19 pandemic led to a widespread socioeconomic shutdown, including medical facilities in many parts of the world. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact on neuroimaging utilisation at an academic medical centre in the United States caused by this shutdown. Methods Exam volumes from 1 February 2020 to 11 August 2020 were calculated based on patient location, including outpatient, inpatient and emergency, as well as modality type, including computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. 13 March 2020 was designated as the beginning of the shutdown period for the radiology department and 1 May 2020 was designated as the reopening date. The scan volumes during the pre-shutdown, shutdown and post-shutdown periods were compared using t-tests. Results Overall, neuroimaging scan volumes declined significantly by 41% during the shutdown period and returned to 98% of the pre-shutdown period levels after the shutdown, with an estimated 3231 missed scans. Outpatient scan volumes were more greatly affected than inpatient scan volumes, while emergency scan volumes declined the least during the shutdown. In addition, the magnetic resonance imaging scan volumes declined to a greater degree than the computed tomography scan volumes during the shutdown. Conclusion The shutdown from the COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial but transient impact on neuroimaging utilisation overall, with variable magnitude depending on patient location and modality type.


Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 227
Author(s):  
Rudaina Banihani ◽  
Judy Seesahai ◽  
Elizabeth Asztalos ◽  
Paige Terrien Church

Advances in neuroimaging of the preterm infant have enhanced the ability to detect brain injury. This added information has been a blessing and a curse. Neuroimaging, particularly with magnetic resonance imaging, has provided greater insight into the patterns of injury and specific vulnerabilities. It has also provided a better understanding of the microscopic and functional impacts of subtle and significant injuries. While the ability to detect injury is important and irresistible, the evidence for how these injuries link to specific long-term outcomes is less clear. In addition, the impact on parents can be profound. This narrative summary will review the history and current state of brain imaging, focusing on magnetic resonance imaging in the preterm population and the current state of the evidence for how these patterns relate to long-term outcomes.


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