Conventional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Techniques Research Articles

The role of diffusion-weighted MRI in the evaluation of imaging for prostate carcinoma: A systematic review

Abstract Background: Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men. In recent times, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) sequence magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques have been used in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. The present systematic review aims to analyze the effectiveness of DWI in diagnosing prostate cancer. Methodology and Results: Publicly available English databases, such as PubMed and Google Scholar, were searched until 2020. We reviewed 965 research articles, and 10 were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The study found that the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value decreases as the total diffusion volume increases. Tumor cells have significantly lower ADC values compared to normal or non-tumor cells. DWI was found to have higher sensitivity and accuracy than the T2W MRI technique. However, Choline-PET/CT was slightly more effective in diagnosing prostate cancer compared to DWI. Conclusion: DWI is a promising MRI technique that can enhance diagnostic performance in conjunction with other conventional MRI techniques to diagnose prostate cancer.

Correlation between Perfusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Features with Histopathological Grading of Glioma

Background: Gliomas are the most common primary neoplasm of the brain. It histopathologically grades I to IV. I and II are low grade while III, IV are high grade. Low-grade gliomas are usually subject to either strict follow-up or surgery. The treatment for high grade gliomas is typically surgery, followed by concomitant radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Conventional MRI has limitations for the grading of gliomas. In addition to conventional MRI techniques, a variety of new techniques such as perfusion-weighted MRI which noninvasively measures cerebral perfusion that can be used for better assessment of glioma. This will be helpful for therapeutic approach and counseling about prognosis of the patient. Methods: This cross sectional observational study was conducted in the Department of Neurosurgery, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University from IRB clearance to 18 months. The patients who fulfill the selection criteria were enrolled in this study. Written informed consent was taken from the patients and/or the legal guardian/ responsible family members after completely explaining to them the procedure and the purpose of the study. Patient’s data was collected in questionnaire/data collection sheet. The privacy of the patient was strictly maintained and the patient’s information will not be disclosed to any source. The study data will only be used for the purpose of this scientific study. This study was not causing any additional harm to the patients. All the patients were evaluated by a standard conventional contrast-enhanced study with perfusion-weighted image on Siemens 3 Tesla MRI. The histopathological grading of the tumor was done as per the WHO classification of 2007. Then correlation was done between PWI finding and WHO histopathological grading. Results: Measurement of relative cerebral blood volume in glioma patients was done in PW-MRI preoperatively. Out of the 35 tumors evaluated, 17 were found as low rCBV and 18 as high. Histopathological examination of glioma was done postoperatively. Among 35 tumors, 19 are low grade gliomas and 16 are high grade gliomas. For the correlation between relative cerebral blood volume in preoperative PW MRI and histopathological grading of glioma, Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient Test was done. We found a significant positive coefficient value of r = 0.572 with a significant p-value of p = <0.001. A single cutoff relative cerebral blood volume value of 1.7 for low versus high grade glioma was found to be 77.8% sensitive and 88.2% specific. Conclusion: The present study ascertains that histopathological grading of glioma is positively correlated with relative cerebral blood volume in PW MRI. Bang. J Neurosurgery 2022; 12(1): 12-19

Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Cerebral Venous Thrombosis

Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is a category of stroke that occurs when blood clots form in dural sinuses cerebral veins or, resulting in inflammation and injury to brain tissue. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a valuable non-invasive tool for diagnosing and managing CVT, as it enables visualization of cerebral veins and sinuses and can differentiate CVT from similar conditions. MRI gives information on the location, severity, extent, and complications of thrombosis, including hemorrhage and brain edema. Advanced MRI sequences, such as diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), can detect acute ischemic changes and differentiate between cytotoxic and vasogenic edema. This study intended to assess the effectiveness of conventional and advanced MRI techniques in diagnosing CVT in a group of 50 patients. MR venogram and other conventional MRI sequences were used to diagnose CVT in 96% patients, while contrast venography was used in 4% patients. The study was conducted over 18 months, and statistical analysis was performed on the data to assess the significance of the findings. The study found that the majority of patients experienced headaches, and the SSS (superior sagittal sinus) was the most commonly affected sinus. The thrombosis location was associated with parenchymal involvement in different regions. The age of the thrombus correlated with clinical presentation and imaging findings, and the presence of intraparenchymal hematoma in acute phase and hemorrhagic infarct in subacute phase and was significantly correlated. These findings can help guide timely and appropriate treatment for CVT.

Conventional and Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging Assessment of Non-Enhancing Peritumoral Area in Brain Tumor.

The non-enhancing peritumoral area (NEPA) is defined as the hyperintense region in T2-weighted and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) images surrounding a brain tumor. The NEPA corresponds to different pathological processes, including vasogenic edema and infiltrative edema. The analysis of the NEPA with conventional and advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was proposed in the differential diagnosis of solid brain tumors, showing higher accuracy than MRI evaluation of the enhancing part of the tumor. In particular, MRI assessment of the NEPA was demonstrated to be a promising tool for distinguishing high-grade gliomas from primary lymphoma and brain metastases. Additionally, the MRI characteristics of the NEPA were found to correlate with prognosis and treatment response. The purpose of this narrative review was to describe MRI features of the NEPA obtained with conventional and advanced MRI techniques to better understand their potential in identifying the different characteristics of high-grade gliomas, primary lymphoma and brain metastases and in predicting clinical outcome and response to surgery and chemo-irradiation. Diffusion and perfusion techniques, such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI), dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced (DSC) perfusion imaging, dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) perfusion imaging, arterial spin labeling (ASL), spectroscopy and amide proton transfer (APT), were the advanced MRI procedures we reviewed.

Periventricular nodular heterotopia associated with a "transmantle band sign" in patients with epilepsy.

Previous studies using advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques have documented abnormal transmantle bands connecting ectopic nodules to overlying cortex in patients with periventricular nodular heterotopia (PNH). We describe a similar finding using conventional MRI techniques. Patients were identified by means of a full-text search of radiological reports. All scanning was performed using conventional sequences at 3 Tesla (3T). Scans were reviewed by three neuroradiologists, and we characterized imaging features based on type of PNH and cortical irregularities associated with the transmantle band. A total 57 PNH patients were reviewed, of whom 41 demonstrated a "transmantle band" connecting the nodule to the overlying cortex. One or more periventricular heterotopic nodules was present in all 41 patients-this was bilateral in 29 of 41 (71%) and unilateral in the remaining 29%. In many cases there was more than one such band, and in some cases this band was nodular. In 19 of the cases, the cortex to which the band connected was abnormal, showing thinning in 4 cases, thickening in 5 cases, and polymicrogyria in another 10. The transmantle band can be seen frequently in both unilateral and bilateral cases of PNH and can be visualized with conventional 3T MRI sequences. The band highlights the underlying neuronal migration issues at play in the pathogenesis of this disorder, but its underlying role in the complex, patient-specific epileptogenic networks in this cohort has yet to be determined and warrants further investigation.

Role of arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance perfusion in acute ischemic stroke

BackgroundArterial spin labeling (ASL) is a recently used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) perfusion technique in acute cerebrovascular stroke conditions; it can detect the hypo perfused areas on basis of qualitative and quantitative measurements and also identify the area at risk known as penumbra by detecting the diffusion/perfusion mismatch. The purpose of this study was to assess the role of ASL perfusion technique in management of acute ischemic stroke and its ability to predict the clinical outcome of acute stroke patients. The study was prospectively carried out on 33 patients clinically presented with acute stroke from the first of August 2020 till the first of August 2021. All cases were clinically assessed by stroke consultant followed by brain imaging including conventional MRI and ASL perfusion technique, based upon which management was established. These imaging data were correlated with the clinical outcome after 3 months using Modified Rankin Scale.ResultsSixteen cases (48.48%) showed ischemic penumbra with diffusion perfusion mismatch with three cases presenting within the first 4 h managed by intravenous thrombolytic therapy and 13 cases presenting later than 4 h, 10 of whom were managed by endovascular intervention. The group with ischemic penumbra showed significant positive correlation with favorable clinical outcome while the group without ischemic penumbra showed significant positive correlation with poor clinical outcome. Quantitative ASL values were statistically significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) in patients with favorable clinical outcome than those with poor clinical outcome. The estimated cut off values of ASL absolute cerebral blood flow and relative cerebral blood flow to predict favorable or poor outcome using ROC curve analysis were 19 ml/100gm/min and 74% compared to the contralateral side respectively.ConclusionThe use of MRI as a primary diagnostic tool in arterial ischemic stroke with the application of non-contrast ASL perfusion sequence allows precise detection of perfusion deficit and diffusion perfusion mismatch (penumbra) and provides a reliable insight into outcome prediction.

Time-Resolved 3D cardiopulmonary MRI reconstruction using spatial transformer network.

The accurate visualization and assessment of the complex cardiac and pulmonary structures in 3D is critical for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular and respiratory disorders. Conventional 3D cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques suffer from long acquisition times, motion artifacts, and limited spatiotemporal resolution. This study proposes a novel time-resolved 3D cardiopulmonary MRI reconstruction method based on spatial transformer networks (STNs) to reconstruct the 3D cardiopulmonary MRI acquired using 3D center-out radial ultra-short echo time (UTE) sequences. The proposed reconstruction method employed an STN-based deep learning framework, which used a combination of data-processing, grid generator, and sampler. The reconstructed 3D images were compared against the start-of-the-art time-resolved reconstruction method. The results showed that the proposed time-resolved 3D cardiopulmonary MRI reconstruction using STNs offers a robust and efficient approach to obtain high-quality images. This method effectively overcomes the limitations of conventional 3D cardiac MRI techniques and has the potential to improve the diagnosis and treatment planning of cardiopulmonary disorders.

Making the invisible visible-ultrashort echo time magnetic resonance imaging: Technical developments and applications.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses a large magnetic field and radio waves to generate images of tissues in the body. Conventional MRI techniques have been developed to image and quantify tissues and fluids with long transverse relaxation times (T2s), such as muscle, cartilage, liver, white matter, gray matter, spinal cord, and cerebrospinal fluid. However, the body also contains many tissues and tissue components such as the osteochondral junction, menisci, ligaments, tendons, bone, lung parenchyma, and myelin, which have short or ultrashort T2s. After radio frequency excitation, their transverse magnetizations typically decay to zero or near zero before the receiving mode is enabled for spatial encoding with conventional MR imaging. As a result, these tissues appear dark, and their MR properties are inaccessible. However, when ultrashort echo times (UTEs) are used, signals can be detected from these tissues before they decay to zero. This review summarizes recent technical developments in UTE MRI of tissues with short and ultrashort T2 relaxation times. A series of UTE MRI techniques for high-resolution morphological and quantitative imaging of these short-T2 tissues are discussed. Applications of UTE imaging in the musculoskeletal, nervous, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular systems of the body are included.

Artificial Intelligence Models in the Diagnosis of Adult-Onset Dementia Disorders: A Review.

Background: The progressive aging of populations, primarily in the industrialized western world, is accompanied by the increased incidence of several non-transmittable diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases and adult-onset dementia disorders. To stimulate adequate interventions, including treatment and preventive measures, an early, accurate diagnosis is necessary. Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) represents a technique quite common for the diagnosis of neurological disorders. Increasing evidence indicates that the association of artificial intelligence (AI) approaches with MRI is particularly useful for improving the diagnostic accuracy of different dementia types. Objectives: In this work, we have systematically reviewed the characteristics of AI algorithms in the early detection of adult-onset dementia disorders, and also discussed its performance metrics. Methods: A document search was conducted with three databases, namely PubMed (Medline), Web of Science, and Scopus. The search was limited to the articles published after 2006 and in English only. The screening of the articles was performed using quality criteria based on the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS) rating. Only papers with an NOS score ≥ 7 were considered for further review. Results: The document search produced a count of 1876 articles and, because of duplication, 1195 papers were not considered. Multiple screenings were performed to assess quality criteria, which yielded 29 studies. All the selected articles were further grouped based on different attributes, including study type, type of AI model used in the identification of dementia, performance metrics, and data type. Conclusions: The most common adult-onset dementia disorders occurring were Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. AI techniques associated with MRI resulted in increased diagnostic accuracy ranging from 73.3% to 99%. These findings suggest that AI should be associated with conventional MRI techniques to obtain a precise and early diagnosis of dementia disorders occurring in old age.

Current MRI Methods for the Assessment of Pathologic Prostate: A Brief Review for Clinicians.

The application of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) have helped in different modalities for prostate cancer management, from early detection to treatment planning and follow-up, the evolution of MRI techniques allows to obtain not only anatomical but also functional information to take advantage of prostate cancer detection and staging while supplying prognostic and predictive biomarkers. This review presents conventional and advanced MRI techniques (known as multiparametric MRI) that allow functional and quantitative assessment of the normal prostate gland and its correlation with prostate cancer. Additional topics include the epidemiology of prostate cancer following the Global Burden Diseases Cancer Collaboration 2018, the clinical anatomy of the prostate gland, and the lower urinary tract; we also mention some aspects of the diagnosis performance in ultrasound. We end the review with a brief explanation about the anatomical foundation of external-beam planning radiotherapy.

Noise-Immune Extreme Ensemble Learning for Early Diagnosis of Neuropsychiatric Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Early diagnosis is currently the most effective way of saving the life of patients with neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE). However, it is rather difficult to detect this terrible disease at the early stage, due to the subtle and elusive symptomatic signals. Recent studies show that the 1H-MRS (proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy) imaging technique can capture more information reflecting the early appearance of this disease than conventional magnetic resonance imaging techniques. 1H-MRS data, however, also presents more noises that can bring serious diagnosis bias. We hence proposed a noise-immune extreme ensemble learning technique for effectively leveraging 1H-MRS data for advancing the early diagnosis of NPSLE. Our main results are that 1) by developing generalized maximum correntropy criterion in the kernel extreme learning setting, many types of non-Gaussian noises can be distinguished, and 2) weighted recursive feature elimination, using maximal information coefficient to weight feature's importance, helps to further alleviate the bad impact of noises on the diagnosis performance. The proposed method is assessed on a publicly available dataset with 97.5% accuracy, 95.8% sensitivity and 99.9% specificity, which well demonstrates its efficacy.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Diffusion Weighted Magnetic Resonance in Differentiating Between Malignant and Benign Endometrial Soft-Tissue Lesions

Background and Aim: Pathological variation and image overlapping due to several endometrial conditions could be challenging for radiologists. Diffused weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) is a reliable and promising imaging technique for the diagnosis and characteristics of endometrial lesions. The present study aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of diffused weighted magnetic imaging resonance in differentiating between malignant and benign endometrial soft-tissue lesions. Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on 50 suspected endometrial lesions in the department of radiology, Benazir Bhutto hospital, Rawalpindi from January 2021 to December 2021. Non-probability consecutive sampling technique was used for all the participants meeting the inclusion criteria. Patients were categorized into two groups; Group I and Group II comprised 25 suspected benign and malignant endometrial lesions respectively. All the study patients were subjected to ultrasound and MRI examination of the pelvis. DWI imaging was done and the ADC value was calculated at a high b value. Histopathological data was collected. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. Results: Of the total 50 endometrial lesions, histopathological results were divided into the malignant group (25 lesions, 50%) and benign group (25 lesions, 50%). Out of 50, 38 lesions (21/25 benign and 17/25 malignant lesions) were correctly diagnosed by the conventional magnetic resonance imaging technique. The sensitivity, specificity, predictive positive value (PPV), and negative-positive value (NPV) of conventional MRI were 76.82%, 79.41%, 74.12%, AND 81.5% respectively. However, combining the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value at b=1000 with DWI, about 48 lesions (24/25 benign and 24/25 malignant lesions) were correctly diagnosed. The sensitivity, specificity, predictive positive value (PPV), and negative-positive value (NPV) of conventional MRI were 94.82%, 93.23%, 91.6%, and 97% respectively. Conclusion: Diffusion-weighted MRI can help in distinguishing uterine endometrial lesions as benign and malignant. The diagnostic accuracy of Combined DWI with ADC mapping is higher than conventional MRI when differentiating benign lesions from malignant lesions. Additionally, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of combined DWI with ADC mapping increased in pelvic MRI examination for differentiating endometrial focal lesions. Keywords: Pelvic ultrasound; MRI Pelvis; Benign and Malignant endometrial lesions, Validity.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging in (Near-)Term Infants with Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy.

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is a major cause of neurological sequelae in (near-)term newborns. Despite the use of therapeutic hypothermia, a significant number of newborns still experience impaired neurodevelopment. Neuroimaging is the standard of care in infants with HIE to determine the timing and nature of the injury, guide further treatment decisions, and predict neurodevelopmental outcomes. Cranial ultrasonography is a helpful noninvasive tool to assess the brain before initiation of hypothermia to look for abnormalities suggestive of HIE mimics or antenatal onset of injury. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which includes diffusion-weighted imaging has, however, become the gold standard to assess brain injury in infants with HIE, and has an excellent prognostic utility. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy provides complementary metabolic information and has also been shown to be a reliable prognostic biomarker. Advanced imaging modalities, including diffusion tensor imaging and arterial spin labeling, are increasingly being used to gain further information about the etiology and prognosis of brain injury. Over the past decades, tremendous progress has been made in the field of neonatal neuroimaging. In this review, the main brain injury patterns of infants with HIE, the application of conventional and advanced MRI techniques in these newborns, and HIE mimics, will be described.

Potential markers for sample size estimations in hereditary spastic paraplegia type 5

BackgroundAim to identify potential biomarkers to assess therapeutic efficacy for hereditary spastic paraplegias type 5 (SPG5) by investigating the clinical, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features.MethodsWe performed a cross-sectional study to compare SPG5 patients with age- and sex-matched healthy controls who underwent conventional and quantitative MRI techniques of spinal cord (C1-T9) and brain. SPG5 patients also underwent assessment for clinical status and CSF biomarkers (27-hydroxycholesterol, neurofilament light). We identified a set of markers with standardized effect sizes (|t|> 0.5) to estimate sample sizes for disease progression (disease duration > 14 years vs. ≤ 14 years).ResultsSeventeen genetically confirmed SPG5 patients (11 men, 6 women; age range, 13–49 years; median disease duration, 14 years) were enrolled. Compared to healthy controls, the total spinal cord area (SCA) of SPG5 patients was reduced particularly at the thoracic levels (cervical levels: 12–27%; thoracic levels 41–60%). Patients did not show significant alterations of brain signal abnormalities or atrophy relative to controls. A total of 10 surrogate markers were selected and a minimum sample size was achieved with the measurement of SCA on T9 (n = 22) much less that what would be required if using clinical disability assessment (n = 124).ConclusionsSPG5 patients showed distinct MRI features of spinal cord atrophy without significant brain alterations. Our finding supports the measurements of spinal cord on T9 level as potential endpoint for SPG5 clinical trials.Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04006418. Registered 05 July 2019, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04006418?term=NCT04006418&draw=2&rank=1.

Visualization of Human Aortic Valve Dynamics Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging with Sub-Millisecond Temporal Resolution.

Visualization of aortic valve dynamics is important in diagnosing valvular diseases but is challenging to perform with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) due to the limited temporal resolution. To develop an MRI technique with sub-millisecond temporal resolution and demonstrate its application in visualizing rapid aortic valve opening and closing in human subjects in comparison with echocardiography and conventional MRI techniques. Prospective. Twelve healthy subjects. 3 T; gradient-echo-train-based sub-millisecond periodic event encoded imaging (get-SPEEDI) and balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP). Images were acquired using get-SPEEDI with a temporal resolution of 0.6 msec. get-SPEEDI was triggered by an electrocardiogram so that each echo in the gradient echo train corresponded to an image at a specific time point, providing a time-resolved characterization of aortic valve dynamics. For comparison, bSSFP was also employed with 12 msec and 24 msec temporal resolutions, respectively. The durations of the aortic valve rapid opening (Tro ), rapid closing (Trc ), and the maximal aortic valve area (AVA) normalized to height were measured with all three temporal resolutions. M-mode echocardiograms with a temporal resolution of 0.8 msec were obtained for further comparison. Parameters were compared between the three sequences, together with the echocardiography results, with a Mann-Whitney U test. Significantly shorter Tro (mean ± SD: 27.5 ± 6.7 msec) and Trc (43.8 ± 11.6 msec) and larger maximal AVA/height (2.01 ± 0.29 cm2 /m) were measured with get-SPEEDI compared to either bSSFP sequence (Tro of 56.3 ± 18.8 and 63.8 ± 20.2 msec; Trc of 68.2 ± 16.6 and 72.8 ± 18.2 msec; maximal AVA/height of 1.63 ± 0.28 and 1.65 ± 0.32 cm2 /m for 12 msec and 24 msec temporal resolutions, respectively, P < 0.05). In addition, the get-SPEEDI results were more consistent with those measured using echocardiography, especially for Tro (29.0 ± 4.1 msec, P=0.79) and Trc (41.6 ± 4.3 msec, P=0.16). DATA CONCLUSION: get-SPEEDI allows for visualization of human aortic valve dynamics and provided values closer to those measured using echocardiography than the bSSFP sequences. 1 TECHNICAL EFFICACY STAGE: 1.

Novel Thoracic MRI Approaches for the Assessment of Pulmonary Physiology and Inflammation.

Excessive pulmonary inflammation can lead to damage of lung tissue, airway remodelling and established structural lung disease. Novel therapeutics that specifically target inflammatory pathways are becoming increasingly common in clinical practice, but there is yet to be a similar stepwise change in pulmonary diagnostic tools. A variety of thoracic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tools are currently in development, which may soon fulfil this emerging clinical need for highly sensitive assessments of lung structure and function. Given conventional MRI techniques are poorly suited to lung imaging, alternate strategies have been developed, including the use of inhaled contrast agents, intravenous contrast and specialized lung MR sequences. In this chapter, we discuss technical challenges of performing MRI of the lungs and how they may be overcome. Key thoracic MRI modalities are reviewed, namely, hyperpolarized noble gas MRI, oxygen-enhanced MRI (OE-MRI), ultrashort echo time (UTE) MRI and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI. Finally, we consider potential clinical applications of these techniques including phenotyping of lung disease, evaluation of novel pulmonary therapeutic efficacy and longitudinal assessment of specific patient groups.

Weight-Bearing Magnetic Resonance Imaging as a Diagnostic Tool That Generates Biomechanical Changes in Spine Anatomy.

Weight-bearing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a unique modality in diagnostic imaging that allows for the assessment of spinal pathology in ways considered previously inaccessible or insufficient with the conventional MRI technique. Due to limitations in positioning within the MRI machine itself, difficulties would be posed in determining the underlying cause of a patient’s pain or neurological symptoms, as the traditional supine position utilized can, in many cases, alleviate the severity of presented symptoms. Weight-bearing MRI addresses this concern by allowing a clinician to position a patient (to a certain degree) into flexion, extension, rotation, or side-bending with an axial load that can mimic physiologic conditions in order to replicate the conditions the patient experiences in order to give clinicians a clearer understanding of the anatomical relationship of the spine and surrounding tissues that may lead to a particular presentation of symptoms. These findings can then guide treatment approaches that are better tailored to a patient’s needs in order to initiate treatment earlier and shorten the duration of treatment necessary for patient benefit. The goal of this review is to describe and differentiate weight-bearing MRI from conventional MRI as well as examine the advantages and disadvantages of either imaging modality. This will include assessing cost-effectiveness and improvements in clinical outcomes. Further, the advancements of weight-bearing MRI will be discussed, including potentially unique clinical applications in development.

Monitoring diffuse injury during disease progression in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis with on resonance variable delay multiple pulse (onVDMP) CEST MRI

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disorder that targets myelin proteins and results in extensive damage in the central nervous system in the form of focal lesions as well as diffuse molecular changes. Lesions are currently detected using T1-weighted, T2-weighted, and gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); however, monitoring such lesions has been shown to be a poor predictor of disease progression. Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI is sensitive to many of the biomolecules in the central nervous system altered in MS that cannot be detected using conventional MRI. We monitored disease progression in an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model of MS using on resonance variable delay multiple pulse (onVDMP) CEST MRI. Alterations in onVDMP signal were observed in regions responsible for hindlimb function throughout the central nervous system. Histological analysis revealed glial activation in areas highlighted in onVDMP CEST MRI. onVDMP signal changes in the 3rd ventricle preceded paralysis onset that could not be observed with conventional MRI techniques. Hence, the onVDMP CEST MRI signal has potential as a novel imaging biomarker and predictor of disease progression in MS.

Correlation between brain magnetic resonance imaging, cognitive dysfunction and physical disability in multiple sclerosis

Background Montreal Cognitive Assessment test (MoCA) is a brief, sensitive test that has been recommended as a reliable tool to detect mild cognitive impairment. Associations between brain imaging measures and cognitive functioning have been observed in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Objectives To evaluate cognitive dysfunction and physical disability in MS patients by making correlation between Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), MoCA test and expanded disability status scale (EDSS). Methods Fifty MS Patients and twenty-five controls underwent clinical evaluation and assessment of cognitive functions using the MoCA test. In addition, all MS patients underwent conventional MRI brain and Expanded disability status scale (EDSS). Results The scores for trail making test, memory, attention, serial seven subtractions, fluency, naming and orientation in MS patients were significantly different from control (p Conclusion Although conventional MRI techniques are crucial in the MS diagnostic workup, their accuracy in evaluating and predicting cognitive dysfunction is less relevant. The MoCA test would provide a brief screen for cognitive dysfunction in MS.

Correlation between brain magnetic resonance imaging, cognitive dysfunction and physical dysability in multiple sclerosis

BackgroundMontreal Cognitive Assessment test (MoCA) is a brief, sensitive test that has been recommended as a reliable tool to detect mild cognitive impairment. Associations between brain imaging measures and cognitive functioning have been observed in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).ObjectivesTo evaluate cognitive dysfunction and physical disability in MS patients by making correlation between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), MoCA test, and Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS).MethodsFifty MS patients and 25 controls underwent clinical evaluation and assessment of cognitive functions using the MoCA test. In addition, all MS patients underwent conventional MRI brain and Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS).ResultsThe scores for trail making test, memory, attention, serial seven subtractions, fluency, naming, and orientation in MS patients were significantly different from control (p < 0.05). There was significant inverse correlation between number of MS plaques in the temporal lobe and abstraction (p < 0.001, r = − 0.52). Less inverse correlation was found between total number of MRI plaques and concentration, total number of MRI plaques and abstraction, and infratentorial lesions and clock drawing test. No correlations were found between the number of MS plaques in frontal, parietal, occipital, corpus callosum, and neuropsychological tests.ConclusionAlthough conventional MRI techniques are crucial in the MS diagnostic workup, their accuracy in evaluating and predicting cognitive dysfunction is less relevant. The MoCA test would provide a brief screen for cognitive dysfunction in MS.