Neurology MRI

Profound improvements in perfusion and diffusion tensor imaging over the past few decades are changing the ways in which radiologists understand disease processes, especially those involving small blood vessels in the brain.

The intraoperative combination of functional MRI and diffusion-tensor tractography can improve the functional abilities of patients who undergo brain surgery, according to researchers who used a brain navigation system to apply the data during surgery.

Using PET with carbon-11-labeled monoamine oxidase A inhibitor clorgyline, researchers from the Brookhaven National Laboratory have found an association between MAO-A brain activity and violent behavior. Their study was selected as Image of the Year at the 2007 Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting in Washington, DC.

The wide area detector onboard Toshiba's 256-slice CT records subtle changes in blood flow and minute blockages in single acquisitions of the brain (top, middle) and heart (bottom) with substantially reduced risk of motion artifact and at less radiation dose to the patient.

PET imaging to diagnose brain tumor and monitor recurrence after treatment is an evolving field of research. Investigators at the Radiological Society of North America meeting presented studies revolving around five tracers, as well as various permutations of imaging combinations such as FDG-PET with MR spectroscopy.

Functional MRI is increasingly being used preoperatively to improve the safety of surgery that will remove brain tumors or locate epileptogenic foci by mapping motor, somatosensory, and language functions, at least in larger teaching and university hospitals.

Profound improvements in perfusion and diffusion tensor imaging over the past few decades are changing the ways in which radiologists understand disease processes, especially those involving small blood vessels in the brain, according to Dr. Jonathan Gillard of Cambridge University Hospital in the U.K.

PET imaging to diagnose brain tumor and monitor recurrence after treatment is an evolving field of research. Investigators at the RSNA meeting presented studies revolving around five tracers, as well as various permutations of imaging combinations such as FDG-PET with MR spectroscopy.

People may permanently store memories even if they cannot consciously recall them, according to a study by Duke researchers.

Neuroradiologists understand that high-grade tumors interrupt the blood-brain barrier, which presents as contrast enhancement on CT and MRI. Renewed interest in the phenomenon of permeability, however, has researchers looking beyond simple contrast enhancement and toward molecular mechanisms involved in permeability that may help them treat brain tumors more effectively.

Neuroradiologists understand that high-grade tumors interrupt the blood-brain barrier, which presents as contrast enhancement on CT and MRI. Renewed interest in the phenomenon of permeability, however, has researchers looking beyond simple contrast enhancement and toward molecular mechanisms involved in permeability that may help them treat brain tumors more effectively.

Traditional polygraph tests to determine whether someone is lying may take a back seat to fMRI, according to a study in the February issue of Radiology. Researchers from Temple University Hospital used fMRI to show how specific areas of the brain light up when a person tells a lie.

Vascular disease in the brain may dictate the onset of dementia in the elderly, according to a study published in the September issue of Radiology.

Diagnosing nasal lesions on the basis of CT and MR appearance alone can be difficult because many such lesions have nonspecific imaging characteristics. To resolve this problem, a group of radiologists led by Dr. Alla Godelman of Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, NY, have devised 10 principles of nasal imaging.