Cerebellar volumes and language functions in school-aged children born very preterm.

BACKGROUND: Volumes of cerebellar posterior lobes have been associated with cognitive skills, such as language functioning. Children born very preterm (VPT) often have language problems. However, only total cerebellar volume has been associated with language functioning, with contradicting results. The objective of this study was to ascertain whether total cerebellar structures or specific posterior lobular structures are associated with language ability of school-aged VPT children. METHODS: This is a prospective cohort study of 42 school-aged VPT children without major handicaps. Structural MRI was performed and the cerebellum segmentation pipeline was used for segmentation of separate lobules. Narrative retelling assessment was performed and language content and language structure scores were extracted. Linear regression analyses were used to associate language scores with whole gray matter (GM) cerebellar volume and right Crus I+II GM volume. RESULTS: Whole cerebellar GM volume was not significantly associated with language content nor with language structure; however, right Crus I+II GM volume was significantly associated with language content (ß = 0.192 (CI = 0.033, 0.351), p = 0.020). CONCLUSIONS: GM volume of Crus I+II appears to be associated with language functions in school-aged VPT children without major handicaps, while whole cerebellar volume is not. This study showed the importance of studying cerebellar lobules separately, rather than whole cerebellar volume only, in relation to VPT children's language functions. IMPACT: GM volume of Crus I+II is associated with semantic language functions in school-aged very preterm children without overt brain injury, whereas whole cerebellar volume is not. This study showed the importance of studying cerebellar lobules separately, rather than whole cerebellar volume only, in relation to very preterm children's language functions. This study might impact future research in very preterm children. Lobular structures rather than whole cerebellar structures should be the region of interest in relation to language functions.

Data quality in diffusion tensor imaging studies of the preterm brain: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: To study early neurodevelopment in preterm infants, evaluation of brain maturation and injury is increasingly performed using diffusion tensor imaging, for which the reliability of underlying data is paramount. OBJECTIVE: To review the literature to evaluate acquisition and processing methodology in diffusion tensor imaging studies of preterm infants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched the Embase, Medline, Web of Science and Cochrane databases for relevant papers published between 2003 and 2013. The following keywords were included in our search: prematurity, neuroimaging, brain, and diffusion tensor imaging. RESULTS: We found 74 diffusion tensor imaging studies in preterm infants meeting our inclusion criteria. There was wide variation in acquisition and processing methodology, and we found incomplete reporting of these settings. Nineteen studies (26%) reported the use of neonatal hardware. Data quality assessment was not reported in 13 (18%) studies. Artefacts-correction and data-exclusion was not reported in 33 (45%) and 18 (24%) studies, respectively. Tensor estimation algorithms were reported in 56 (76%) studies but were often suboptimal. CONCLUSION: Diffusion tensor imaging acquisition and processing settings are incompletely described in current literature, vary considerably, and frequently do not meet the highest standards.

FAPI PET versus FDG PET, CT or MRI for Staging Pancreatic-, Gastric- and Cholangiocarcinoma: Systematic Review and Head-to-Head Comparisons of Diagnostic Performances.

INTRODUCTION: There is a pressing demand for the development of cancer-specific diagnostic imaging tools, particularly for staging of pancreatic-, gastric- or cholangiocarcinoma, as current diagnostic imaging techniques, including CT, MRI and PET using FDG, are not fully adequate. The novel PET-tracer "FAPI" has the potential to visualize even small tumour deposits employing the tumour-specific expression of fibroblast-activating protein (FAP) in malignant cells. METHODS: We performed a systematic review to select studies investigating the use of FAPI PET for staging pancreatic-, gastric- and cholangiocarcinoma (PROSPERO CRD42022329512). Patient-wise and lesion-wise comparisons were performed for primary tumour (T), lymph nodes (N), organ metastases (M) and peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC). Maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax) and tumour-to-background ratios (TBR) were compared between PET using FAPI versus FDG (if reported). RESULTS: Ten articles met the inclusion criteria. In all studies, FAPI PET showed superiority over FDG-PET/CT/MRI for the detection of T, N, M and PC, both in the patient-wise and in lesion-wise comparisons (when performed). Additionally, higher SUVmax and TBRmax values were reported for use of FAPI compared to FDG. CONCLUSIONS: The positive results of this review warrant prospective clinical studies to investigate the accuracy and clinical value of FAPI PET for diagnosing and staging patients with pancreatic-, gastric- and cholangiocarcinoma.

Systemic multipotent adult progenitor cells protect the cerebellum after asphyxia in fetal sheep.

Involvement of the cerebellum in the pathophysiology of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) in preterm infants is increasingly recognized. We aimed to assess the neuroprotective potential of intravenously administered multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPCs) in the preterm cerebellum. Instrumented preterm ovine fetuses were subjected to transient global hypoxia-ischemia (HI) by 25 minutes of umbilical cord occlusion at 0.7 of gestation. After reperfusion, two doses of MAPCs were administered intravenously. MAPCs are a plastic adherent bone-marrow-derived population of adult progenitor cells with neuroprotective potency in experimental and clinical studies. Global HI caused marked cortical injury in the cerebellum, histologically indicated by disruption of cortical strata, impeded Purkinje cell development, and decreased dendritic arborization. Furthermore, global HI induced histopathological microgliosis, hypomyelination, and disruption of white matter organization. MAPC treatment significantly prevented cortical injury and region-specifically attenuated white matter injury in the cerebellum following global HI. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) detected HI-induced injury and MAPC neuroprotection in the preterm cerebellum. This study has demonstrated in a preclinical large animal model that early systemic MAPC therapy improved structural injury of the preterm cerebellum following global HI. Microstructural improvement was detectable with DTI. These findings support the potential of MAPC therapy for the treatment of HIE and the added clinical value of DTI for the detection of cerebellar injury and the evaluation of cell-based therapy.

Excellent response to pasireotide therapy in an aggressive and dopamine-resistant prolactinoma.

Prolactinomas are the most commonly encountered pituitary adenomas in the clinical setting. While most can be controlled by dopamine agonists, a subset of prolactinomas are dopamine-resistant and very aggressive. In such tumors, the treatment of choice is neurosurgery and radiotherapy, with or without temozolomide. Here, we report a patient with an highly aggressive, dopamine-resistant prolactinoma, who only achieved biochemical and tumor control during pasireotide long-acting release (PAS-LAR) therapy, a second-generation somatostatin receptor ligand (SRL). Interestingly, cystic degeneration, tumor cell necrosis or both was observed after PAS-LAR administration suggesting an antitumor effect. This case shows that PAS-LAR therapy holds clinical potential in selective aggressive, dopamine-resistant prolactinomas that express somatostatin (SST) receptor subtype 5 and appears to be a potential new treatment option before starting temozolomide. In addition, PAS-LAR therapy may induce cystic degeneration, tumor cell necrosis or both in prolactinomas.

The Impacts of Tumor and Tumor Associated Epilepsy on Subcortical Brain Structures and Long Distance Connectivity in Patients With Low Grade Glioma.

Low grade gliomas in cerebral cortex often cause symptoms related to higher cerebral functions such as attention, memory and executive function before treatment is initiated. Interestingly, focal tumors residing in one cortical region can lead to a diverse range of symptoms, indicating that the impact of a tumor is extended to multiple brain regions. We hypothesize that the presence of focal glioma in the cerebral cortex leads to alterations of distant subcortical areas and essential white matter tracts. In this study, we analyzed diffusion tensor imaging scans in glioma patients to study the effect of glioma on subcortical gray matter nuclei and long-distance connectivity. We found that the caudate nucleus, putamen and thalamus were affected by cortical glioma, displaying both volumetric and diffusion alterations. The cerebellar cortex contralateral to the tumor side also showed significant volume decrease. Additionally, tractography of the cortico-striatal and cortico-thalamic projections shows similar diffusion alterations. Tumor associated epilepsy might be an important contributing factor to the found alterations. Our findings indeed confirm concurrent structural and connectivity abrasions of brain areas distant from brain tumor, and provide insights into the pathogenesis of diverse neurological symptoms in glioma patients.

Cerebello-cerebral connectivity in the developing brain.

Disrupted cerebellar development and injury is associated with impairments in both motor and non-motor domains. Methods to non-invasively characterize cerebellar afferent and efferent connections during early development are lacking. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of delineating cortico-ponto-cerebellar (CPC) and cerebello-thalamo-cortical (CTC) white matter tracts during brain development using high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI). HARDI data were obtained in 24 infants born between 24+6 and 39 weeks gestational age (median 33+4 weeks) and scanned between 29+1 and 44 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA) (median 37+1 weeks). Probabilistic tractography of CPC and CTC fibers was performed using constrained spherical deconvolution. Connections between cerebellum and contralateral cerebral hemisphere were identified in all infants studied. Fractional anisotropy (FA) values of CTC and CPC pathways increased with increasing PMA at scan (p < 0.001). The supratentorial regions connecting to contralateral cerebellum in most subjects, irrespective of PMA at scan, included the precentral cortex, superior frontal cortex, supplementary motor area, insula, postcentral cortex, precuneus, and paracentral lobule. This study demonstrates the feasibility of assessing CTC and CPC white matter connectivity in vivo during the early stages of development. The ability to assess cerebellar connectivity during this critical developmental period may help improve our understanding of the role of the cerebellum in a wide range of neuromotor and neurocognitive disorders.