Improved detection of juxtacortical lesions using highly accelerated double inversion-recovery MRI in patients with multiple sclerosis.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare a highly-accelerated double inversion recovery (fast-DIR) sequence using a recent parallel imaging technique (CAIPIRINHA) with a conventional DIR (conv-DIR) sequence for image quality and the detection of juxtacortical and infratentorial multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 38 patients with MS who underwent brain MRI at 3 T between 2020 and 2021 were included. There were 27 women and 12 men with a mean age of 40 ± 12.8 (standard deviation) years (range: 20-59 years). All patients underwent conv-DIR sequence and fast-DIR sequence. Fast-DIR was obtained with a T2-preparation module to improve contrast and an iterative denoising algorithm to compensate noise enhancement. Two blinded readers reported the number of juxtacortical and infratentorial MS lesions for fast-DIR and conv-DIR, confirmed by further consensus reading that was used as the standard of reference. Image quality and contrast were evaluated for fast-DIR and conv-DIR sequences. Comparisons between fast-DIR and conv-DIR sequences were performed using Wilcoxon test and Lin concordance correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Thirty-eight patients were analyzed. Fast-DIR imaging allowed detection of 289 juxtacortical lesions vs. 238 with conv-DIR, corresponding to a significant improved detection rate with fast-DIR (P < 0.001). Conversely, 117 infratentorial lesions were detected with conv-DIR sequence vs. 80 with fast-DIR sequence (P < 0.001). Inter-observer agreement for lesion detection with fast-DIR and conv-DIR was very high (Lin concordance correlation coefficient ranging between 0.86 and 0.96). CONCLUSION: Fast-DIR improves the detection of juxtacortical MS lesions, but is limited for the detection of infratentorial MS lesions.

Accurate Diagnosis of Cortical and Infratentorial Lesions in Multiple Sclerosis Using Accelerated Fluid and White Matter Suppression Imaging.

OBJECTIVES: The precise location of multiple sclerosis (MS) cortical lesions can be very challenging at 3 T, yet distinguishing them from subcortical lesions is essential for the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease. Compressed sensing-accelerated fluid and white matter suppression imaging (CS-FLAWS) is a new magnetic resonance imaging sequence derived from magnetization-prepared 2 rapid acquisition gradient echo with promising features for the detection and classification of MS lesions. The objective of this study was to compare the diagnostic performances of CS-FLAWS (evaluated imaging) and phase sensitive inversion recovery (PSIR; reference imaging) for classification of cortical lesions (primary objective) and infratentorial lesions (secondary objective) in MS, in combination with 3-dimensional (3D) double inversion recovery (DIR). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prospective 3 T scans (MS first diagnosis or follow-up) acquired between March and August 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. All underwent 3D CS-FLAWS, axial 2D PSIR, and 3D DIR. Double-blinded reading sessions exclusively in axial plane and final consensual reading were performed to assess the number of cortical and infratentorial lesions. Wilcoxon test was used to compare the 2 imaging datasets (FLAWS + DIR and PSIR + DIR), and intraobserver and interobserver agreement was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Forty-two patients were analyzed (38 with relapsing-remitting MS, 29 women, 42.7 ± 12.6 years old). Compressed sensing-accelerated FLAWS allowed the identification of 263 cortical lesions versus 251 with PSIR ( P = 0.74) and 123 infratentorial lesions versus 109 with PSIR ( P = 0.63), corresponding to a nonsignificant difference between the 2 sequences. Compressed sensing-accelerated FLAWS exhibited fewer false-negative findings than PSIR either for cortical lesions (1 vs 13; P < 0.01) or infratentorial lesions (1 vs 15; P < 0.01). No false-positive findings were found with any of the 2 sequences. Diagnostic confidence was high for each contrast. CONCLUSION: Three-dimensional CS-FLAWS is as accurate as 2D PSIR imaging for classification of cortical and infratentorial MS lesions, with fewer false-negative findings, opening the way to a reliable full brain MS exploration in a clinically acceptable duration (5 minutes 15 seconds).

3-Dimensional Fluid and White Matter Suppression Magnetic Resonance Imaging Sequence Accelerated With Compressed Sensing Improves Multiple Sclerosis Cervical Spinal Cord Lesion Detection Compared With Standard 2-Dimensional Imaging.

OBJECTIVES: Fluid and white matter suppression (FLAWS) is a recently proposed magnetic resonance sequence derived from magnetization-prepared 2 rapid acquisition gradient-echo providing 2 coregistered datasets with white matter- and cerebrospinal fluid-suppressed signal, enabling synthetic imaging with amplified contrast. Although these features are high potential for brain multiple sclerosis (MS) imaging, spinal cord has never been evaluated with this sequence to date. The objective of this work was therefore to assess diagnostic performance and self-confidence provided by compressed-sensing (CS) 3-dimensional (3D) FLAWS for cervical MS lesion detection on a head scan that includes the cervical cord without changing standard procedures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prospective 3 T scans (MS first diagnosis or follow-up) acquired between 2019 and 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent 3D CS-FLAWS (duration: 5 minutes 40 seconds), axial T 2 turbo spin echo covering cervical spine from cervicomedullary junction to the same inferior level as FLAWS, and sagittal cervical T 2 /short tau inversion recovery imaging. Two readers performed a 2-stage double-blind reading, followed by consensus reading. Wilcoxon tests were used to compare the number of detected spinal cord lesions and the reader's diagnostic self-confidence when using FLAWS versus the reference 2D T 2 -weighted imaging. RESULTS: Fifty-eight patients were included (mean age, 40 ± 13 years, 46 women, 7 ± 6 years mean disease duration). The CS-FLAWS detected significantly more lesions than the reference T 2 -weighted imaging (197 vs 152 detected lesions, P < 0.001), with a sensitivity of 98% (T 2 -weighted imaging sensitivity: 90%) after consensual reading. Considering the subgroup of patients who underwent sagittal T2 + short tau inversion recovery imaging (Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Multiple Sclerosis subgroup), +250% lesions were detected with FLAWS (63 vs 25 lesions detected, P < 0.001). Mean reading self-confidence was significantly better with CS-FLAWS (median, 5 [interquartile range, 1] [no doubt for diagnosis] vs 4 [interquartile range, 1] [high confidence]; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Imaging with CS-FLAWS provides an improved cervical spinal cord exploration for MS with increased self-confidence compared with conventional T 2 -weighted imaging, in a clinically acceptable time.

Broadening the spectrum of the neurological complications in systemic lupus erythematosus: A patient with meningoradiculitis.

BACKGROUND: Neurological complications of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are wide and may rarely involve the peripheral nervous system. However, no case of meningoradiculitis has been well-detailed. METHODS: We report a patient with lupus-associated meningoradiculitis. RESULTS: A 57-year-old woman had SLE without neurological involvement, treated with hydroxychloroquine, methotrexate, and prednisone for 10 years. Six months after the drug discontinuation for SLE, she acutely developed gait instability, paresthesia, and neuropathic pain of the four limbs. The neurological examination and nerve conduction studies were consistent with radiculopathies. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis showed lymphocytic meningitis. The spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed thickening and an enhancement of the lumbosacral roots consistent with meningoradiculitis. The extensive investigations did not argue for a differential diagnosis of SLE. The patient dramatically improved upon corticosteroids. At the last follow-up, the patient still reported mild paresthesia but the clinical examination, the CSF, and the spinal MRI were normal. CONCLUSION: This well-detailed case of meningoradiculitis broadens the spectrum of neurological complications in SLE. Early recognition of such complications might lead to efficient immunotherapy.

Data-based algorithms and models using diabetics real data for blood glucose and hypoglycaemia prediction - A systematic literature review.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Hypoglycaemia prediction play an important role in diabetes management being able to reduce the number of dangerous situations. Thus, it is relevant to present a systematic review on the currently available prediction algorithms and models for hypoglycaemia (or hypoglycemia in US English) prediction. METHODS: This study aims to systematically review the literature on data-based algorithms and models using diabetics real data for hypoglycaemia prediction. Five electronic databases were screened for studies published from January 2014 to June 2020: ScienceDirect, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, SCOPUS, and PubMed. RESULTS: Sixty-three eligible studies were retrieved that met the inclusion criteria. The review identifies the current trend in this topic: most of the studies perform short-term predictions (82.5%). Also, the review pinpoints the inputs and shows that information fusion is relevant for hypoglycaemia prediction. Regarding data-based models (80.9%) and hybrid models (19.1%) different predictive techniques are used: Artificial neural network (22.2%), ensemble learning (27.0%), supervised learning (20.6%), statistic/probabilistic (7.9%), autoregressive (7.9%), evolutionary (6.4%), deep learning (4.8%) and adaptative filter (3.2%). Artificial Neural networks and hybrid models show better results. CONCLUSIONS: The data-based models for blood glucose and hypoglycaemia prediction should be able to provide a good balance between the applicability and performance, integrating complementary data from different sources or from different models. This review identifies trends and possible opportunities for research in this topic.

Brain MRI Findings in Severe COVID-19: A Retrospective Observational Study.

Background Brain MRI parenchymal signal abnormalities have been associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Purpose To describe the neuroimaging findings (excluding ischemic infarcts) in patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Materials and Methods This was a retrospective study of patients evaluated from March 23, 2020, to April 27, 2020, at 16 hospitals. Inclusion criteria were (a) positive nasopharyngeal or lower respiratory tract reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assays, (b) severe COVID-19 infection defined as a requirement for hospitalization and oxygen therapy, (c) neurologic manifestations, and (d) abnormal brain MRI findings. Exclusion criteria were patients with missing or noncontributory data regarding brain MRI or brain MRI showing ischemic infarcts, cerebral venous thrombosis, or chronic lesions unrelated to the current event. Categorical data were compared using the Fisher exact test. Quantitative data were compared using the Student t test or Wilcoxon test. P < .05 represented a significant difference. Results Thirty men (81%) and seven women (19%) met the inclusion criteria, with a mean age of 61 years ± 12 (standard deviation) (age range, 8-78 years). The most common neurologic manifestations were alteration of consciousness (27 of 37, 73%), abnormal wakefulness when sedation was stopped (15 of 37, 41%), confusion (12 of 37, 32%), and agitation (seven of 37, 19%). The most frequent MRI findings were signal abnormalities located in the medial temporal lobe in 16 of 37 patients (43%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 27%, 59%), nonconfluent multifocal white matter hyperintense lesions seen with fluid-attenuated inversion recovery and diffusion-weighted sequences with variable enhancement, with associated hemorrhagic lesions in 11 of 37 patients (30%; 95% CI: 15%, 45%), and extensive and isolated white matter microhemorrhages in nine of 37 patients (24%; 95% CI: 10%, 38%). A majority of patients (20 of 37, 54%) had intracerebral hemorrhagic lesions with a more severe clinical presentation and a higher admission rate in intensive care units (20 of 20 patients [100%] vs 12 of 17 patients without hemorrhage [71%], P = .01) and development of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (20 of 20 patients [100%] vs 11 of 17 patients [65%], P = .005). Only one patient had SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the cerebrospinal fluid. Conclusion Patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 and without ischemic infarcts had a wide range of neurologic manifestations that were associated with abnormal brain MRI scans. Eight distinctive neuroradiologic patterns were described. © RSNA, 2020.

Angiofibrolipoma of Posterior Mediastinum with Transforaminal Extension.

Angiofibrolipoma is a histological variant of lipoma, which commonly occurs in subcutaneous tissues. In the present report we illustrate the case of an angiofibrolipoma of the posterior upper mediastinum in a 75-year-old man presented with progressive chest pain. Xray chest showed a homogeneous opacity vertically oriented along the right lateral aspect of thoracic vertebrae with an obtuse angle to the mediastinum. The upper extremity of the mass extended above the superior clavicle, suggestive of a posterior mediastinal lesion. Thoracic magnetic resonance imaging revealed a posterior mediastinal mass, in keeping with a nonaggressive lesion, with particular endocanalar extension and heterogeneous signal and enhancement patterns that was highly suggestive of a mixed mesenchymal tumor. The tumor was incompletely removed by right postero-lateral thoracotomy with final diagnosis of angiofibrolipoma. To the author's knowledge, such a case of angiofibrolipoma located in the posterior mediastinum has not been previously reported in the literature.