Non-contrast enhancement of brachial plexus magnetic resonance imaging with compressed sensing.

PURPOSE: To observe the quality of brachial plexus (BP) images obtained from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with 3D T2 STIR SPACE sequence and compressed sensing (CS) and to compare the results with BP images from the same sequence without CS. METHODS: In this study, compressed sensing was applied to acquire non-contrast BP images from ten healthy volunteers with 3D T2 STIR SPACE sequence to shorten acquisition time without sacrificing image quality. The acquisition time of scanning with CS was compared to that without CS. The quantitative signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were calculated and compared using paired t-test to determine the quality of images with and without CS. The qualitative assessment by three experienced radiologists was performed using a scoring scale from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) and analyzed for interobserver agreement on image quality. RESULTS: The increasing SNR and CNR of images with CS were found in nine regions of BP images (p < 0.001) with faster acquisition time. The result of paired t-test (p < 0.001) illustrates the significant difference between images with CS compared to images without CS. The assessment of observers also shows higher scores for images with CS compared to images without CS. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that CS can effectively increase the visibility of images and image boundaries, SNR, and CNR of BP images obtained with 3D T2 STIR SPACE sequence with the good interobserver agreement and within clinically optimal acquisition time compared to images from similar sequence without CS.

Convalescent plasma therapy in patients with moderate-to-severe COVID-19: A study from Indonesia for clinical research in low- and middle-income countries.

BACKGROUND: We explored the outcome of convalescent plasma (CP) treatment in patients with moderate and severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and investigated variables for the design of further trials in Indonesia. METHODS: Hospitalised patients with moderate (n = 5) and severe (n = 5) COVID-19 were recruited and transfused with CP from donors who recovered from mild (n = 5), moderate (n = 5), or severe (n = 1) COVID-19. Neutralising antibodies (NAbs) to the virus were measured at the end of the study using a surrogate virus neutralisation test as an alternative to the plaque reduction assay. Clinical improvement was assessed based on the modified World Health Organization Research and Development Blueprint six-point scale, Brixia Chest-X-Ray scoring, and laboratory parameters. The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04407208). FINDINGS: CP transfusion in three doses of 3 mL/kg of recipient body weight at 2-day intervals was well tolerated. Good clinical improvement was achieved in all patients with moderate disease and in two patients with severe disease. Most patients at baseline had detectable NAbs with median inhibition rates comparable to those of the donors (90·91% vs. 86·31%; p = 0·379). This could be due to the unavailability of pre-donation NAb testing and postponed CP administration that required communal consent. INTERPRETATION: This study highlights the safety of CP therapy. Although improvements were observed, we could not conclude that the outcomes were solely due to CP treatment. Further randomised controlled trials that cover different disease stages with pre-donation NAb measurements using locally applicable strategies are warranted. FUNDING: The study was supported by PT Bio Farma, Indonesia.