Are MRI Findings Sufficient to Allow a Diagnosis of Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension without CSF Study?

Diagnostic criteria for IIH require normal CSF studies. NANOSNET discussions indicate some clinicians are satisfied in a typical patient if MRI is characteristic with dilated nerve sheaths, posterior globe flattening, and empty sella. We present two cases seen this year arguing otherwise

Ocular Motility Defects with Concordance Neuroimaging

"Ocular motility defects (OMDs) have various etiologies and comprise one of the most comprehensive differential diagnoses in neuro-ophthalmology. The differential diagnosis of (OMDs) ranges from a benign to a life-threatening cause. MRI or CT of orbit/brain are complimentary to each other and play a significant role in neuro-ophthalmology and neurology evaluation. Typically, MRI is considered the imaging of choice for neuro-ophthalmological assessment, with CT being reserved for disorders involving bone, calcification or those conditions requiring a surgical approach to the bone. We herein present a retrospective review of a series of patients with (OMDs) with concomitant neuro-imaging findings.

A method for estimating and removing streaking artifacts in quantitative susceptibility mapping

Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) is a novel MRI method for quantifying tissue magnetic property. In the brain, it reflects the molecular composition and microstructure of the local tissue. However, susceptibility maps reconstructed from single-orientation data still suffer from streaking artifacts which obscure structural details and small lesions. We propose and have developed a general method for estimating streaking artifacts and subtracting them from susceptibility maps. Specifically, this method uses a sparse linear equation and least-squares (LSQR)-algorithm-based method to derive an initial estimation of magnetic susceptibility, a fast quantitative susceptibility mapping method to estimate the susceptibility boundaries, and an iterative approach to estimate the susceptibility artifact from ill-conditioned k-space regions only. With a fixed set of parameters for the initial susceptibility estimation and subsequent streaking artifact estimation and removal, the method provides an unbiased estimate of tissue susceptibility with negligible streaking artifacts, as compared to multi-orientation QSM reconstruction. This method allows for improved delineation of white matter lesions in patients with multiple sclerosis and small structures of the human brain with excellent anatomical details. The proposed methodology can be extended to other existing QSM algorithms

A method for estimating and removing streaking artifacts in quantitative susceptibility mapping

Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) is a novel MRI method for quantifying tissue magnetic property. In the brain, it reflects the molecular composition and microstructure of the local tissue. However, susceptibility maps reconstructed from single-orientation data still suffer from streaking artifacts which obscure structural details and small lesions. We propose and have developed a general method for estimating streaking artifacts and subtracting them from susceptibility maps. Specifically, this method uses a sparse linear equation and least-squares (LSQR)-algorithm-based method to derive an initial estimation of magnetic susceptibility, a fast quantitative susceptibility mapping method to estimate the susceptibility boundaries, and an iterative approach to estimate the susceptibility artifact from ill-conditioned k-space regions only. With a fixed set of parameters for the initial susceptibility estimation and subsequent streaking artifact estimation and removal, the method provides an unbiased estimate of tissue susceptibility with negligible streaking artifacts, as compared to multi-orientation QSM reconstruction. This method allows for improved delineation of white matter lesions in patients with multiple sclerosis and small structures of the human brain with excellent anatomical details. The proposed methodology can be extended to other existing QSM algorithms