Semi-Quantitative vs. Volumetric Determination of Endolymphatic Space in Menière’s Disease Using Endolymphatic Hydrops 3T-HR-MRI after Intravenous Gadolinium Injection

<div><p>Magnetic resonance imaging enhances the clinical diagnosis of Menière's disease. This is accomplished by in vivo detection of endolymphatic hydrops, which are graded using different semi-quantitative grading systems. We evaluated an established, semi-quantitative endolymphatic hydrops score and with a quantitative method for volumetric assessment of the endolymphatic size. 11 patients with Menière's disease and 2 healthy subjects underwent high resolution endolymphatic hydrops 3 Tesla MRI with highly T2 weighted FLAIR and T2DRIVE sequences. The degree of endolymphatic hydrops was rated semi-quantitatively and compared to the results of 3D-volumetry. Moreover, the grade of endolymphatic hydrops was correlated with pure tone audiometry. Semi-quantitative grading and volumetric evaluation of the endolymphatic hydrops are in accordance (r = 0.92) and the grade of endolymphatic hydrops correlates with pure tone audiometry. Patients with a sickness duration of ≥ 30 months showed a significant higher total labyrinth fluid volume (p = 0.03). Fast, semi-quantitative evaluation of endolymphatic hydrops is highly reliable compared to quantitative/volumetric assessment. Endolymphatic space is significantly higher in patients with longer sickness duration.</p></div

Measurements of arterial and venous mesenteric vessel diameters.

<p>Measurements of arterial and venous mesenteric vessel diameters.</p

Correlation between 6-tone pure-tone-audiometry (6-Tone_PTA) and percentage of vestibular endolymphatic space to total labyrinth fluid (Vestibular endolymphatic space/total labyrinth volume x 100).

<p>Correlation between 6-tone pure-tone-audiometry (6-Tone_PTA) and percentage of vestibular endolymphatic space to total labyrinth fluid (Vestibular endolymphatic space/total labyrinth volume x 100).</p

Non-occlusive mesenteric ischemia before and after endovascular vasospasm therapy.

<p>Reduced arterial diameter and caliber irregularities in the middle segment and branches of the SMA in CT angiography due to vasospasms from non-occlusive mesenteric ischemia (A). DSA (B) confirms the CT finding. Note the retrograde flow of the contrast agent into the aorta caused by increased vascular resistance in the SMA. Caliber irregularities are reduced after endovascular vasospasm therapy with i.a. prostavasin (C).</p

Influence of the duration of disease on the total labyrinth fluid volume in ears affected by endolymphatic hydrops.

<p>The box depicts the lower and upper quartile as well as the median; the black dot represents the mean. The whiskers depict a maximum and minimum of 1,5x of the interquartile range, statistical outliers are expressed as small circles. The difference between both groups was considered significant (p < 0.05).</p

Comparison of volumetric [%] and semi-quantitative [0: No endolymphatic hydrops; 1: Mild endolymphatic hydrops; 2: Significant endolymphatic hydrops] evaluation of the degree of endolymphatic hydrops.

<p>The grey boxes reflect the grade margins of the volumetric approach (grade 0: < 33%; grade 1: 33–50%; grade 2: > 50%). The total correlation coefficient for vestibular and cochlear structures is 0.92. No significant difference was detected between volumetric and semi-quantitative approach (p > 0.05).</p

Quantification of fluorochrome accumulation in a double xenografted mouse by FMT

Fluorescence-mediated tomography (FMT) was performed 24 hours after injection of SIDAG in order to resolve the three-dimensional fluorochrome distribution and for quantification of fluorochrome concentration in the target tissue: panel a shows a white light image, panel b shows colour-coded FMT data for MDA-MB435, and panel c shows the DU4475 xenograft superimposed on white light images. The average fluorochrome concentration in the MDA-MB xenografts ranged around 229 ± 90 nmol/l, whereas DU4475 exhibited significantly lesser fluorochrome accumulation (49 ± 22 nmol/l; < 0.01).<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Differentiation of angiogenic burden in human cancer xenografts using a perfusion-type optical contrast agent (SIDAG)"</p><p>http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/10/2/R23</p><p>Breast Cancer Research : BCR 2008;10(2):R23-R23.</p><p>Published online 10 Mar 2008</p><p>PMCID:PMC2397521.</p><p></p

Insular and Hippocampal Gray Matter Volume Reductions in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder

<div><p>Background</p><p>Major depressive disorder is a serious psychiatric illness with a highly variable and heterogeneous clinical course. Due to the lack of consistent data from previous studies, the study of morphometric changes in major depressive disorder is still a major point of research requiring additional studies. The aim of the study presented here was to characterize and quantify regional gray matter abnormalities in a large sample of clinically well-characterized patients with major depressive disorder.</p><p>Methods</p><p>For this study one-hundred thirty two patients with major depressive disorder and 132 age- and gender-matched healthy control participants were included, 35 with their first episode and 97 with recurrent depression. To analyse gray matter abnormalities, voxel-based morphometry (VBM8) was employed on T1 weighted MRI data. We performed whole-brain analyses as well as a region-of-interest approach on the hippocampal formation, anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala, correlating the number of depressive episodes.</p><p>Results</p><p>Compared to healthy control persons, patients showed a strong gray-matter reduction in the right anterior insula. In addition, region-of-interest analyses revealed significant gray-matter reductions in the hippocampal formation. The observed alterations were more severe in patients with recurrent depressive episodes than in patients with a first episode. The number of depressive episodes was negatively correlated with gray-matter volume in the right hippocampus and right amygdala.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>The anterior insula gray matter structure appears to be strongly affected in major depressive disorder and might play an important role in the neurobiology of depression. The hippocampal and amygdala volume loss cumulating with the number of episodes might be explained either by repeated neurotoxic stress or alternatively by higher relapse rates in patients showing hippocampal atrophy.</p></div

Clinical characteristics of the patients' sample (n = 132).

<p>MDD: major depressive disorder.</p><p>SD  =  standard deviation.</p><p>MWT-B: Multiple-choice vocabulary test.</p><p>HDRS: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale.</p><p>BDI: Beck's Depression Inventory.</p><p>* Group differences were computed using independent sample t-test for continuous and Chi-square-test for categorial variables. The level of statistical significance was set at p<0.05.</p

Gray matter volume reductions in whole brain analysis.

<p>Gray matter volume reductions in all MDD patients versus healthy controls (orange), and patients with recurrent depressive episodes versus healthy controls (red) (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0102692#pone-0102692-t003" target="_blank">Table 3</a>). (Whole brain analyses, p<0.001, k = 139; view: MNI: 36 23 -5).</p