Advanced MR diffusion characterization of neural tissue using directional diffusion kurtosis analysis.

Conference Theme: Personalized Healthcare Through TechnologyMR Diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) was proposed recently to study the deviation of water diffusion from Gaussian distribution. Mean kurtosis (MK), directionally averaged kurtosis, has been shown to be useful in assessing pathophysilogical changes. However, MK is not sensitive to kurtosis change occurring along a specific direction. Therefore, orthogonal transformation of the 4th order kurtosis tensor was introduced in the current study to compute kurtoses along the 3 eigenvector directions of the 2nd order diffusion tensor. Such axial (K( parallel)) and radial (K perpendicular) kurtoses measured the kurtoses along the directions parallel and perpendicular, respectively, to the principal diffusion direction. DKI experiments were performed in normal adult and formalin-fixed rat brain, and developmental brains. The results showed that directional kurtosis analysis revealed different information for tissue characterization.published_or_final_versio

The impact of optic nerve movement on optic nerve magnetic resonance diffusion parameters

Background: Optic nerve diffusion imaging is a useful investigational tool of optic nerve microstructure, but is limited by eye-movement-induced optic nerve movement and artifacts from surrounding cerebrospinal fluid, fat, bone and air. Attempts at improving patient cooperation, thus voluntarily limiting eye movement during a standard diffusion imagingsequence, are usually futile. The aim of this study was to establish the impact of optic nerve movement on clinical diffusion parameters of the optic nerve. Method: Twenty-nine healthy volunteers with intact vision and intact conjugate gaze were recruited and subjected to magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) of the optic nerves. Twenty right eyes had nerve tracking done using single-shot echo-planar imaging at 20 time points over 3 minutes. Optic nerve movement measurements were correlated with diffusion parameters of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), mean diffusivity (MD), fractional anisotropy (FA) and anisotropic index(AI) using Spearman’s rank correlation. Results: No significant correlations were noted between optic nerve movement parameters and ADC in the axial plane and MD of the optic nerve. Low to moderate negative correlations were noted between optic nerve movement parameters and AI and FA and positive correlation with ADC in the radial plane. Conclusion: Optic nerve movement documented during the timespan of standard diffusion sequences (DWI and DTI) has a negative effect on the anisotropic diffusion parameters of the optic nerve. With greater eye movement, optic nerve diffusion appears less anisotropic owing to greater radial diffusion

Optical coherence tomography in diagnosis and monitoring multiple sclerosis

This paper presents application of optical coherence tomography (OCT) for diagnosis and monitoring of multiple sclerosis (MS). The peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thinning and the reduced total macular volume analysis are shown. With the course of the MS, the severity of these abnormalities increases which reflects the progressive degeneration of retinal ganglion cells and nerve fibres. The OCT parameters are sensitive, non-invasive indicators useful in assessing the progression of inflammation and neurodegeneration in MS

Optic radiation structure and anatomy in the normally developing brain determined using diffusion MRI and tractography

The optic radiation (OR) is a component of the visual system known to be myelin mature very early in life. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and its unique ability to reconstruct the OR in vivo were used to study structural maturation through analysis of DTI metrics in a cohort of 90 children aged 5–18 years. As the OR is at risk of damage during epilepsy surgery, we measured its position relative to characteristic anatomical landmarks. Anatomical distances, DTI metrics and volume of the OR were investigated for age, gender and hemisphere effects. We observed changes in DTI metrics with age comparable to known trajectories in other white matter tracts. Left lateralization of DTI metrics was observed that showed a gender effect in lateralization. Sexual dimorphism of DTI metrics in the right hemisphere was also found. With respect to OR dimensions, volume was shown to be right lateralised and sexual dimorphism demonstrated for the extent of the left OR. The anatomical results presented for the OR have potentially important applications for neurosurgical planning

Diffusion tensor imaging of the optic nerve in multiple sclerosis: association with retinal damage and visual disability

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There is a well-known relationship between MS and damage to the optic nerve, but advanced, quantitative MR imaging methods have not been applied to large cohorts. Our objective was to determine whether a short imaging protocol (Ͻ10 minutes), implemented with standard hardware, could detect abnormal water diffusion in the optic nerves of patients with MS

파킨슨병 환자에서 시공간 인지 기능에 대한 시신경 손상의 예측성

의과대학/석사Objective: To explore the microstructural integrity of the optic nerve and its role as a visuospatial cognitive predictor in patients with de novo Parkinson’s disease (PD) using diffusion tensor image-based magnetic resonance scans. Methods: We enrolled 82 patients with de novo PD; 36 patients had drug-induced parkinsonism (DIP), and 36 were normal controls. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) were measured on the mid-portion of the intraorbital optic nerve. A linear mixed-effects model was used to evaluate PD patients based on a longitudinal change in cognitive subscore of a comprehensive neuropsychological test and optic nerve integrity. Results: The mean FA value in PD was significantly lower (0.552 ± 0.103, p < 0.001) than that in DIP (0.645 ± 0.099) or the normal controls (0.689 ± 0.089), whereas the mean ADC value was significantly higher in the PD group compared to the DIP or control group (p < 0.001). Optic nerve integrity was not significantly related to parkinsonian motor severity, striatal dopamine transporter activity, or olfactory performance in PD patents. In a longitudinal assessment of cognition in PD patients, the lower FA group had a more rapid decline in Rey complex figure test performance (-4.26; 95% CI, -8.31 to -0.40; p = 0.031) and Clock drawing tests (-1.35; 95% CI, -2.59 to -0.11; p = 0.034) than the higher FA group. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that microstructural integrity in the optic nerve was distorted in PD patients, and that this nerve integrity might act as a cognitive predictor of visuospatial dysfunction.ope