Detection of unruptured cerebral artery aneurysms by MRA at 3.0 tesla: comparison with multislice helical computed tomographic angiography.

BACKGROUND: Computed tomographic angiography (CTA) has become the primary non-invasive method for detection of cerebral artery aneurysms in many neurovascular centers. PURPOSE: To compare MR-angiography at a 3.0 tesla (3T) scanner to CTA in the detection of unruptured intracranial aneurysms. MATERIAL AND METHODS: CTA and 3T MRA data from 60 patients were evaluated. CTA was obtained with a 4-16-row helical CT-scanner after administration of 120 cc intravenous contrast agent, MRA was performed by a 3T MR-scanner using time-of-flight pulse sequence. RESULTS: Fifty-five cerebral artery aneurysms were detected by MRA and 47 aneurysms by CTA. Most of the aneurysms detected by MRA but not by CTA were small internal carotid artery (ICA) aneurysms. Bone structures and venous enhancement deteriorated CTA accuracy, especially in skull base. In one patient a fairly large anterior communicating artery aneurysm was not visible in MRA due to spin saturation, although it was clearly visualized in CTA. After contrast injection the aneurysm was also seen in MRA. Although the overall image quality of MRA and CTA were comparable, MRA was more susceptible to artifacts and thus re-formatted surface-shaded volume rendered 3-dimensional images of aneurysms from MRA were inferior compared to those from CTA. CONCLUSION: MRA at 3T appears to be at least as sensitive as CTA in the detection of unruptured cerebral artery aneurysms, however image quality control is crucial and contrast agent enhances visualization of complex and large aneurysms.

Phantom-based evaluation of geometric distortions in functional magnetic resonance and diffusion tensor imaging.

Phantom-based evaluation of geometric distortions in functional MRI and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was investigated. An acrylic water-filled phantom with a grid structure was designed and manufactured to provide accurate geometric information over the volume measured in human brain imaging. The grid structures were well detected in data acquired using a 3-T MRI scanner with echo-planar imaging (EPI) sequences commonly applied in functional MRI and DTI. A method for quantifying distortions in the phantom data was presented and applied for the images. The validity of the phantom for EPI was evaluated by quantitatively comparing the distortions present in and induced by the phantom and a human brain when imaged under identical conditions. The results suggest that the new phantom can reveal geometric distortions easily undermined by standard MRI phantoms. For example, prominent variability in the distortions was found as a function of the orientation of the diffusion-sensitizing gradient. Possible future applications for this type of phantom include quality assurance and calibration of the hardware and software used in EPI-based functional MRI and DTI.

Primary auditory cortex activation by visual speech: an fMRI study at 3 T.

Recent studies have yielded contradictory evidence on whether visual speech perception (watching articulatory gestures) can activate the human primary auditory cortex. To circumvent confounds due to inter-individual anatomical variation, we defined our subjects' Heschl's gyri and assessed blood oxygenation-dependent signal changes at 3 T within this confined region during visual speech perception and observation of moving circles. Visual speech perception activated Heschl's gyri in nine subjects, with activation in seven of them extending to the area of primary auditory cortex. Activation was significantly stronger during visual speech perception than during observation of the moving circles. Further, a significant hemisphere by stimulus interaction occurred, suggesting left Heschl's gyrus specialization for visual speech processing.

Cortical effects of shifting letter position in letter strings of varying length.

Neuroimaging and lesion studies suggest that occipito-temporal brain areas play a necessary role in recognizing a wide variety of objects, be they faces, letters, numbers, or household items. However, many questions remain regarding the details of exactly what kinds of information are processed by the occipito-temporal cortex. Here, we address this question with respect to reading. Ten healthy adult subjects performed a single word reading task. We used whole-head magnetoencephalography to measure the spatio-temporal dynamics of brain responses, and investigated their sensitivity to: (1) lexicality (defined here as the difference between words and consonant strings), (2) word length, and (3) variation in letter position. Analysis revealed that midline occipital activity around 100 msec, consistent with low-level visual feature analysis, was insensitive to lexicality and variation in letter position, but was slightly affected by string length. Bilateral occipito-temporal activations around 150 msec were insensitive to lexicality and reacted to word length only in the timing (and not strength) of activation. However, vertical shifts in letter position revealed a hemispheric imbalance: The right hemisphere activation increased with the shifts, whereas the opposite pattern was evident in the left hemisphere. The results are discussed in the light of Caramazza and Hillis's (1990) model of early reading.

Adult brain plasticity elicited by anomia treatment.

We describe a study where a specific treatment method for word-finding difficulty (so-called contextual priming technique, which combines massive repetition priming with semantic priming) was applied with three chronic left hemisphere-damaged aphasics. Both before and after treatment, which focused on naming of a series of pictures, naming-related brain activity was measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG). Due to its excellent temporal resolution and good spatial resolution, we were able to track treatment-induced changes in cortical activity. All three subjects showed improved naming of the trained items. In all subjects, a single source area, located in the left inferior parietal lobe, close to the lesioned area, displayed statistically significant training-induced changes. This effect was of long latency as it started 300-600 msec after picture presentation. The change in activation was specific to training, as it could not be accounted for by variation of cortical dynamics associated with increased proportion of correct answers. Our interpretation is that the training effect reflects more effective phonological encoding and storage of the trained items through the engagement of a left hemispheric word-learning system. This is in line with recent functional imaging studies, which have linked left inferior parietal lobe activity to the phonological storage component of the verbal working memory, as well as with theoretical arguments stating that the primary role of the phonological loop is to acquire new words. Finally, the MEG results showed no evidence of increased right hemisphere participation following training, supporting the view that restoration of language-related networks in the damaged left hemisphere is crucial for anomia recovery.