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Differentiation between completely hyalinized uterine leiomyomas and ordinary leiomyomas: three-phase dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) vs. diffusion-weighted MRI with very small b-factors.

PURPOSE: To assess the possibility of differentiating between completely hyalinized leiomyomas and ordinary leiomyomas by using diffusion-weighted (DW) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (DWI) employing very small b-factors (b = 1.51 and 55.3 seconds/mm(2)) in comparison with three-phase dynamic MRI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The subjects were 25 patients with 52 histopathologically confirmed uterine leiomyomas. All leiomyomas were divided into two histopathologic subtypes (5 completely hyalinized leiomyomas and 47 ordinary leiomyomas). For each leiomyoma, the enhancement index (EI) at three-phase dynamic MRI and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) were obtained and then compared. RESULTS: The EIs at second and third dynamic phases clearly differentiated the two types of leiomyomas without overlap of values. ADCs also clearly differentiated the two types of leiomyomas without overlap of values. Moreover, there were significant positive correlations between ADCs and EIs at all dynamic phases (r = 0.41-0.50, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Not only three-phase dynamic MRI but also DWI with very small b-factors could be useful for differentiating completely hyalinized leiomyomas from ordinary leiomyomas.

Adult↗

[The visual pathways, from anatomical MRI to physiological with (f)MRI and tractography with diffusion tensor MRI (DTMRI)].

Advances in MRI technology have led to a better knowledge of visual pathways (1984-2004), with a new descriptive anatomy and functional model. The authors first describe the technical development of MRI over the last thirty years, then describe and illustrate the new descriptive anatomy. Cephalic MRI reveals brain structures that were previously invisible, on different encephalic planes, in the optic pathways, horizontally from the cornea to the calcarin fissure (neuro-ocular plane (NOP), oblique trans-hemispheric neuro-ocular (OTNOP) and neuro-opto-tractal planes (NOTP)), in their orthogonal orientation upon the oculomotor pathways: head and axonal optic nerve pack (visual deutoneurons in their meninges), optic tracts, lateral geniculate bodies, optic radiations and the calcarian fissure. Comparative anatomy with the rhesus macaque is mentioned. Functional neuroanatomy (physiology) benefits from cine-MRI for ocular motricity (OD MRI), growth by the observation of myelinization in children, blood and CSF circulation by MR angiography, local blood volumes by perfusion imaging, neuronal quantification with inflammation or myelin regeneration by spectroscopy (MRS), brain mapping by functional MR ((f)MRI) measuring local CBF enhancement by paradigmatic stimulations. The recent functional imaging method, tractography (or diffusion tensor MRI (DTMRI)), using diffusion MRI techniques, natural vector calculations with diffusion tensor and software power for morphological and statistical directional results, represents the direction of projection, association and commissural white matter tracts. Normal examples are shown and some common clinical consequences are discussed.

Adult↗

Detecting the subregion proceeding to infarction in hypoperfused cerebral tissue: a study with diffusion and perfusion weighted MRI.

Diffusion and perfusion weighted MRI have been widely used in ischaemic stroke. We studied 17 patients in whom ischaemic areas showed an ischaemic core, an area of infarct growth and hypoperfused but ultimately surviving tissue. Apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) were measured on days 1, 2, and 8 in the three subregions and in contralateral control areas. Cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume (CBV), and mean transit time (MTT) were measured in these regions on day 1 perfusion maps. On day 1, the ischaemic core had very low ADC and CBF and increased MTT. The ADC in the ischaemic core gradually increased during the week. The area of infarct growth on day 1 had slightly but significantly decreased ADC (96% of control, P=0.028), moderately decreased CBF and increased MTT. On day 1 the hypoperfused but surviving tissue had slightly but significantly increased ADC (103% of control, P=0.001), mildly decreased CBF and increased CBV and MTT. The ADC of the area of infarct growth decreased to the same level as in the ischaemic core on days 2 and 8. That of surviving tissue was still above normal on day 2 (103% of control), but had returned to the normal level by day 8. Measurement of ADC combined with perfusion MRI may help distinguish different subregions in acutely hypoperfused brain.

Aged↗

Detection of acute stroke with diffusion-weighted MRI.

Diffusion-weighted MRI is a new imaging method that can detect acute ischemic stroke within an hour of onset. The first hour following a stroke is crucial, because it is during this time that damaged tissue can be saved. Diffusion-weighted imaging measures the water mobility in tissue. Using these measurements, MRI images can be reconstructed to provide quantified data regarding actual tissue damage. The initial images are obtained using a modified fast spin echo, gradient echo sequence, echo-planar imaging or a navigator echo. These ultrafast sequences are used to eliminate motion artifacts so maximum data can be obtained.

Acute Disease↗

Analysis of the utility of diffusion-weighted MRI and apparent diffusion coefficient values in distinguishing central nervous system toxoplasmosis from lymphoma.

INTRODUCTION: Toxoplasmosis and lymphoma are common lesions of the central nervous system in patients with AIDS. It is often difficult to distinguish between these lesions both clinically and radiographically. Previous research has demonstrated restricted diffusion within cerebral lymphomas and bacterial abscesses. However, little work has been done to evaluate the diffusion characteristics of toxoplasmosis lesions. This study was designed to explore further the utility of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps and values in making the distinction between toxoplasmosis and lymphoma. METHODS: The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of 36 patients, including 22 with toxoplasmosis (all of whom had AIDS) and 14 with lymphoma (8 of whom had AIDS), at two institutions were reviewed retrospectively. The characteristics of the lesions on DWI were evaluated, and the ADC ratios of the lesions were calculated and compared. RESULTS: There was significant overlap of the ADC ratios of toxoplasma and lymphoma, most notably in the intermediate (1.0-1.6) range. There was variability in ADC ratios even among different lesions in the same patient. In only a minority of the lymphoma patients were the ADC ratios low enough to suggest the correct diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that toxoplasmosis exhibits a wide spectrum of diffusion characteristics with ADC ratios which have significant overlap with those of lymphoma. Therefore, in the majority of patients, ADC ratios are not definitive in making the distinction between toxoplasmosis and lymphoma.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗

The physical basis of diffusion-weighted MRI.

Diffusion-weighted (DW) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the only technique that permits a non-invasive in vivo assessment of water molecular diffusion, which reflects tissue configuration at a microscopic level. Therefore, this technique appears to be particularly useful in monitoring brain abnormalities. However, the quantitative measurement of diffusion is not without problems, which may limit the widespread use of diffusion-weighted MRI. In this report, the phenomenon of diffusion is described, together with its effect on the nuclear magnetic resonance signal. The concepts of diffusion anisotropy and diffusion tensor are also introduced, and the technical and hardware requirements are discussed.

Algorithms↗

Use of a projection reconstruction method to decrease motion sensitivity in diffusion-weighted MRI.

Diffusion-weighted MRI is a clinically useful technique, but its utility is compromised by high sensitivity to patient motion. Use of radial-scan data acquisition and projection reconstruction, rather than the conventional Fourier imaging method, can substantially reduce the sensitivity to global translational motion of the object. The basis of this concept and a demonstration of the technique in an animal imaging experiment are presented.

Animals↗

Analysis of partial volume effects in diffusion-tensor MRI.

The diffusion tensor is currently the accepted model of diffusion in biological tissues. The measured diffusion behavior may be more complex when two or more distinct tissues with different diffusion tensors occupy the same voxel. In this study, a partial volume model of MRI signal behavior for two diffusion-tensor compartments is presented. Simulations using this model demonstrate that the conventional single diffusion tensor model could lead to highly variable and inaccurate measurements of diffusion behavior. The differences between the single and two-tensor models depend on the orientations, fractions, and exchange between the two diffusion tensor compartments, as well as the diffusion-tensor encoding technique and diffusion-weighting that is used in the measurements. The current single compartment model's inaccuracies could cause diffusion-based characterization of cerebral ischemia and white matter connectivity to be incorrect. A diffusion-tensor MRI imaging experiment on a normal human brain revealed significant partial volume effects between oblique white matter regions when using very large voxels and large diffusion-weighting (b approximately 2.69 x 10(3) sec/mm(2)). However, the apparent partial volume effects in white matter decreased significantly when smaller voxel dimensions were used. For diffusion tensor studies obtained using typical diffusion-weighting values (b approximately 1 x 10(3) sec/mm(2)) partial volume effects are much more difficult to detect and resolve. More accurate measurements of multiple diffusion compartments may lead to improved confidence in diffusion measurements for clinical applications.

Anisotropy↗

Intra-voxel and inter-voxel coherence in patients with multiple sclerosis assessed using diffusion tensor MRI.

Previous diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI) studies reported mean diffusivity () and fractional anisotropy (FA) changes in lesions and normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), but neglected the additional information which can be obtained by the analysis of the inter-voxel coherence (C). The present study is based on a large sample of patients with MS and it is aimed at assessing the potential role of C in the quantification of MS-related tissue damage of T2-visible lesions and NAWM. We obtained dual-echo, T1-weighted and DT-MRI scans from 78 patients with relapsing-remitting (RR), secondary progressive (SP), or primary progressive (PP) MS and from 26 healthy volunteers. We calculated, FA and C of T2-hyperintense lesions, T1-isointense lesions, T1-hypointense lesions and several areas of the NAWM. and FA of the majority of NAWM regions studied from MS patients were different from the corresponding quantities of the white matter from controls. NAWM C from patients was lower than white matter C from controls only for the parietal pericallosal areas. SPMS patients had higher corpus callosum and lower corpus callosum FA and C than patients with either RRMS or PPMS. Average lesion was higher, and average FA and C lower than the corresponding quantities measured in the NAWM. Average T1-hypointense lesion was higher and average FA lower than the corresponding quantities of T1-isointense lesions, whereas average C of these two lesion populations were not different. SPMS had higher average lesion than both PPMS and RRMS patients. NAWM and C of the corpus callosum were moderately correlated with disability. This study confirms the role of DT-MRI metrics to identify MS lesions with different amounts of tissue damage and to detect diffuse changes in the NAWM. It also shows that measuring C enables us to obtain additional information about tissue damage, which is complementary to that given by the analysis of and FA.

Adult↗

Cardiac diffusion tensor MRI in vivo without strain correction.

Cardiac diffusion MRI with diffusion encoding that spans a cardiac cycle is complicated by myocardial strains. This paper presents a method to obtain accurate diffusion data without strain correction. Owing to the synchrony of normal cardiac motion, there are time points in the cardiac cycle, "sweet spots," when the cardiac configuration approximates its temporal mean. If the diffusion is encoded then, the net effect of strain on the observed diffusion approximates zero. To test this, MRI diffusion and strain-rate movies are performed on cyclically deformed gel phantoms and in five normal subjects. In phantoms, the sweet spots predicted from the strain time curves agree with the times when the observed diffusion equals the true diffusion. In humans, the strain prediction of the sweet spots and the locations determined by the diffusion trace show a high correlation, r = 0.99. In all subjects, diffusion MRI presents a fiber orientation pattern comparable to that obtained from a stationary specimen. Magn Reson Med 42:393-403, 1999.

Adult↗

Pretreatment prediction of brain tumors' response to radiation therapy using high b-value diffusion-weighted MRI.

Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWMRI) is sensitive to tissues' biophysical characteristics, including apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) and volume fractions of water in different populations. In this work, we evaluate the clinical efficacy of DWMRI and high diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (HDWMRI), acquired up to b = 4000 sec/mm(2) to amplify sensitivity to water diffusion properties, in pretreatment prediction of brain tumors' response to radiotherapy. Twelve patients with 20 brain lesions were studied. Six ring-enhancing lesions were excluded due to their distinct diffusion characteristics. Conventional and DWMRI were acquired on a 0.5-T MRI. Response to therapy was determined from relative changes in tumor volumes calculated from contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MRI, acquired before and a mean of 46 days after beginning therapy. ADCs and a diffusion index, R(D), reflecting tissue viability based on water diffusion were calculated from DWMRIs. Pretreatment values of ADC and R(D) were found to correlate significantly with later tumor response/nonresponse (r = 0.76, P <.002 and r = 0.77, P <.001). This correlation implies that tumors with low pretreatment diffusion values, indicating high viability, will respond better to radiotherapy than tumors with high diffusion values, indicating necrosis. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using DWMRI for pretreatment prediction of response to therapy in patients with brain tumors undergoing radiotherapy.

Brain↗

Early diffusion-weighted MRI and 1H-Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in asphyxiated full-term neonates.

AIM: To assess the predictive value of early MRI and proton MR spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS), 11 full-term neonates with severe perinatal asphyxia were studied within 48 h after birth. METHODS: T(1)- and T(2)-weighted MRI, diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI), apparent diffusion coefficient of water (ADC) of the basal ganglia and parietal white matter, as well as (1)H-MRS of the basal ganglia were performed in a 1.5-Tesla magnetic field. Neurodevelopment was assessed in the survivors for at least 24 months. RESULTS: Nine of the 11 neonates had a poor outcome (7 died, 2 developed cerebral palsy). All examinations were normal in the 2 neonates with a good outcome. T(1)- and T(2)-weighted MRI were abnormal in 7, DWI was abnormal in 7, ADC was abnormal in 5, and elevated lactate/N-acetylaspartate ratios using (1)H-MRS were seen in 7 of the 9 neonates with a poor outcome. None of these 9 had completely normal MRI or (1)H-MRS findings. CONCLUSIONS: Using a combination of T(1)- and T(2)-weighted MRI, DW-MRI, ADC measurements and (1)H-MRS within 48 h after severe perinatal asphyxia, no abnormalities were seen with any of these techniques in both neonates with a good outcome.

Asphyxia Neonatorum↗

[Radiologic diagnostics of dementia].

Dementia is one of the most common diseases in the elderly population and is getting more and more important with the ageing of the population. A radiologic structural examination with CT or MRI is meanwhile a standard procedure in the diagnostic work up of patients with dementia syndrome. Radiology enables an early diagnosis and a differential diagnosis between different causes of dementia. Because structural changes occur only late in the disease process, a more detailed structural analysis using volumetric techniques or the use of functional imaging techniques is mandatory. These days, structural imaging uses MRI which enables to detect early atrophic changes at the medial temporal lobe with focus on the amygdala hippocampal complex. These changes are also present in the normal ageing process. In patients with Alzheimer's disease, however, they are more rapid and more pronounced. The use of functional imaging methods such as perfusion MRI, diffusion MRI or fMRI allow new insights into the pathophysiologic changes of dementia. The article gives an overview of the current status of structural imaging and an outlook into the potential of functional imaging methods. Detailed results of structural and functional imaging are presented in other articles of this issue.

Age Factors↗

Genetic Correlation Between Brain Imaging Phenotypes and Externalizing Behavior: A Large-Scale LDSC Analysis of UK Biobank IDPs.

Externalizing has been associated with differences in brain structure and function; however, it remains unclear whether these associations reflect shared common-variant genetic influences. Cross-trait linkage disequilibrium score regression was used to estimate genome-wide genetic correlations between externalizing genome-wide association study (GWAS) results and 3,935 brain imaging-derived phenotypes from the UK Biobank BIG40 resource. The imaging phenotypes covered structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion MRI, susceptibility-weighted imaging, resting-state functional MRI, and task-based functional MRI. Results were included in the primary analysis when the imaging phenotype had positive single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) heritability, a heritability Z statistic of at least 1.96, a mean GWAS chi-square statistic of at least 1.02, at least 200,000 regression SNPs, and a complete LDSC result without a fatal error. Technical imaging quality-control phenotypes were excluded from biological inference. Individual results were corrected using the Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate procedure. Aggregated Cauchy association tests (ACATs) were used to evaluate evidence across all imaging phenotypes and within predefined imaging categories. Statistical power, simultaneous confidence bounds, and alternative quality-control definitions were examined in sensitivity analyses. Of the 3,935 imaging phenotypes, 3,716 produced estimable genetic correlations, 2,980 met the primary LDSC quality-control criteria, and 2,967 were classified as biological imaging phenotypes. No individual phenotype survived false discovery rate correction. The smallest unadjusted P value was 0.0005, and the minimum adjusted q value was 0.486. The distribution of genetic correlations was centered near zero, with a median genetic correlation of 0.0014 and a median absolute genetic correlation of 0.0338. ACAT provided no evidence of an aggregate association across all biological imaging phenotypes (P = 0.302), and no predefined imaging category survived multiple-testing correction. The median minimum detectable genetic correlation at 80% power was 0.216. Bonferroni-adjusted simultaneous confidence intervals were fully contained within the interval [-0.30, 0.30] for 80.0% of phenotypes in the primary analysis and 88.0% under the stringent heritability quality-control definition. Broad and stringent sensitivity analyses produced the same overall conclusions. In this study, no statistically robust evidence of genome-wide genetic correlations between externalizing and individual UK Biobank brain imaging phenotypes was found. Nevertheless, small, localized, mixed-direction, or developmentally specific genetic effects remain possible.

Journal Article↗

[Effect of vibration caused by time-varying magnetic fields on diffusion-weighted MRI].

Diffusion-weighted images (DWIs) with high b-factor in the body are often used to detect and diagnose cancer at MRI. The echo planar imaging (EPI) sequence and high motion probing gradient pulse are used at diffusion weighted imaging, causing high table vibration. The purpose of this study was to assess whether the diffusion signal and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values are influenced by this vibration because of time-varying magnetic fields. Two DWIs were compared. In one, phantoms were fixed on the MRI unit's table transmitting the vibration. In the other, phantoms were supported in air, in the absence of vibration. The phantoms called "solution phantoms" were made from agarose of a particular density. The phantoms called "jelly phantoms" were made from agarose that was heated. The diffusion signal and ADC value of each image were compared. The results showed that the signal of DWI units using the solution phantom was not affected by vibration. However, the signal of DWI and ADC were increased in the low-density jelly phantom as a result of vibration, causing the jelly phantom to vibrate. The DWIs of vibrating regions such as the breast maybe be subject to error. A countermeasure seems to be to support the region adequately.

Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging↗

Anisotropy in high angular resolution diffusion-weighted MRI.

The diffusion in voxels with multidirectional fibers can be quite complicated and not necessarily well characterized by the standard diffusion tensor model. High angular resolution diffusion-weighted acquisitions have recently been proposed as a method to investigate such voxels, but the reconstruction methods proposed require sophisticated estimation schemes. We present here a simple algorithm for the identification of diffusion anisotropy based upon the variance of the estimated apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) as a function of measurement direction. The rationale for this method is discussed, and results in normal human subjects acquired with a novel diffusion-weighted stimulated-echo spiral acquisition are presented which distinguish areas of anisotropy that are not apparent in the relative anisotropy maps derived from the standard diffusion tensor model. Published 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Algorithms↗