3D SHINKEI MR neurography in evaluation of traumatic brachial plexus.

3D SHINKEI neurography is a new sequence for imaging the peripheral nerves. The study aims at assessing traumatic brachial plexus injury using this sequence. Fifty-eight patients with suspected trauma induced brachial plexus injury underwent MR neurography (MRN) imaging in 3D SHINKEI sequence at 3 T. Surgery and intraoperative somatosensory evoked potentials or clinical follow-up results were used as the reference standard. MRN, surgery and electromyography (EMG) findings were recorded at four levels of the brachial plexus-roots, trunks, cords and branches. Fifty-eight patients had pre- or postganglionic injury. The C5-C6 nerve postganglionic segment was the most common (average 42%) among the postganglionic injuries detected by 3D SHINKEI MRN. The diagnostic accuracy (83.75%) and the specificity (90.30%) of MRN higher than that of EMG (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the diagnostic sensitivity of MRN compared with EMG (p > 0.05). Eighteen patients with brachial plexus injury underwent surgical exploration after MRN examination and the correlation between MRN and surgery was 66.7%. Due to the high diagnostic accuracy and specificity, 3D SHINKEI MRN can comprehensively display the traumatic brachial plexus injury. This sequence has great potential in the accurate diagnosis of traumatic brachial plexus injury.

Predictive value of magnetic resonance imaging indications of spinal cord swelling for cervical spondylotic myelopathy prognosis.

BACKGROUND: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the preferred examination approach for patients with suspected cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). OBJECTIVE: To investigate the predictive value of MRI spinal cord swelling on the prognosis of decompression surgery in patients with CSM. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 115 patients with CSM who underwent decompression surgery was performed. According to whether cervical MRI showed spinal cord swelling, they were divided into a spinal cord swelling group and non-swelling group. The Modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (MJOA) score, MJOA improvement rate and abnormal spinal cord enhancement rate in the two groups were compared before and after surgery. Multiple linear regression was used to analyse the influencing factors of the MJOA improvement rate. RESULTS: The time from symptom onset to operation (t= 2.400, p= 0.018) and preoperative MJOA score in the spinal cord swelling group were lower than those in the non-swelling group (t= 3.253, p= 0.002). The body mass index (t= 2.895, p= 0.005), anteroposterior diameter of the spinal canal (t= 4.421, p< 0.001), cross-sectional area (t= 3.136, p= 0.002), postoperative improvement rate (t= 4.277, p< 0.001) and proportion of abnormal enhancement of the spinal cord in the swelling group were higher than those in the non-swelling group (χ2= 3.136, p= 0.002). The preoperative MJOA score in the swelling group was lower than that in the non-swelling group (t= 2.583, p= 0.013). A multivariate linear regression model revealed that age and spinal cord swelling were independent predictors of MJOA score improvement, explaining 33.2% of the total variation. CONCLUSION: Patients with CSM with spinal cord swelling have less time from symptoms to surgery, and the degree of preoperative neurological deterioration is more obvious. Spinal cord swelling is an independent predictor of surgical prognosis in patients with CSM.

Characterization of Clinical Symptoms of Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy Based on DKI Imaging Parameter Ratios.

In recent years, people's living conditions have significantly improved, and their lifestyles have been diversified. However, the incidence of various diseases has also increased with it, including cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). Spinal cord cervical spondylosis is one of the spinal cord compression disorders that can be severely disabling and accounts for 10% to 15% of all cervical spondylosis. In this paper, DKI image processing technology is used to study the symptoms of cervical spondylosis, which is helpful to help them explore the symptoms and causes. The onset of cervical spondylosis has a longer period of time, and the period of conservative treatment will inevitably require a longer period of time. The clinical symptoms of cervical spinal cord compression are mainly pain, and after the cervical spinal cord nerve is compressed, ischemia and hypoxia will occur, the nerve sensitivity will increase, and the patient will have reflex neck muscle pain symptoms. This causes degeneration of the patient's intervertebral disc tissue, degeneration of facet joints, ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament, and formation of spurs on the posterior edge of the vertebral body. The condition will become more complicated, so it is very important to identify the characteristics of the clinical symptoms of cervical spondylotic myelopathy to help patients with cervical spondylosis recover. This paper identifies the clinical symptoms of cervical spondylosis based on the parameter ratio method of Diffusional Kurtosis Imaging (DKI). The current state of diffusion kurtosis imaging and the treatment of cervical spondylosis and the treatment operation are introduced, and the image enhancement technology in medical imaging is used to analyze the disc herniation of each segment in the overflexion, neutral and hyperextension positions. After comparing the FA, MK, and MD values in the spinal cord between the normal group and the patient group, the results showed that the FA, MD and MK values in the patient group were lower than those in the normal group, and the findings showed that the MD and MK values were positively correlated with the JOA score, reflecting that as the clinical symptoms of spinal cervical spondylosis worsened. The size and number of cervical intervertebral disc bulge on the hyperextension image is obvious and the number increases (especially the C4/5, C5/6, and C6/7 intervertebral discs with greater mobility), and the highest is 0.82 and 27%, respectively.

Utility of diffusion tensor imaging for guiding the treatment of lumbar disc herniation by percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic discectomy.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) for guiding the treatment of lumbar disc herniation (LDH) by percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic discectomy (PTED). We collected the clinical data of a total of 19 patients: 10 with unilateral S1 nerve root injury, 6 with unilateral L5 nerve root injury, and 3 with unilateral L5 and S1 nerve root injury. All patients underwent DTI before surgery, 3 days post-surgery, 30 days post-surgery, and 90 days post-surgery. The comparison of the fractional anisotropy (FA) values of compressed lateral nerve roots before surgery and 3, 30, and 90 days post-surgery demonstrated the recovery of nerve roots to be a dynamic process. A significant difference was found in the FA values between compressed lateral nerve roots preoperatively and normal lateral nerve roots before surgery, 3 days post-surgery and 30 days post-surgery (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in FA values between compressed lateral nerve roots and normal ones 90 days post-surgery (p > 0.05). DTI can be used for the accurate diagnosis of LDH, as well as for postoperative evaluation and prognosis, and it is thus useful for the selection of surgical timing.

Signal characteristics of normal adult bone marrow in whole-body diffusion-weighted imaging.

BACKGROUND: Knowledge of the signal characteristics of normal adult bone marrow in whole-body diffusion-weighted (DW) images (WB-DWI) is essential for correctly interpreting DW images in clinical practice; however, these factors have not yet been clearly determined. PURPOSE: To evaluate the signal characteristics of normal adult bone marrow in WB-DWI, to correlate these characteristics with age and gender, and to determine the causes of these phenomena. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Ninety-eight healthy volunteers underwent WB-DWI (b = 0 and 800 s/mm(2)). Two radiologists visually evaluated the signal characteristics of bone marrow in DW images separately. One radiologist measured the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, bilateral femur (including head, neck, and proximal and distal femoral shaft), bilateral humeral head, ilium, and scapula. The signal characteristics of normal bone marrow were analyzed. RESULTS: The visual evaluation results of DW images indicated that hyperintensity of bone marrow was more frequently seen in women aged 21-50 years (68.4%) than in men aged 21-50 years (3.3%) (P < 0.001), men aged 51-81 years (5.9%) (P < 0.001), and women aged 51-81 years (15.4%) (P = 0.001). However, no statistically significant difference was found between men and women aged 51-81 years (P = 0.565). The ADC of bone marrow was significantly higher in women than in men aged 21-50 years. Bone marrow ADC showed significant negative correlation with age in women but not in men. CONCLUSION: The signal intensity of bone marrow varies with age and gender in DW images. ADC and the T2 shine-through effect contributed to the bone marrow signal intensity in DW images, and the latter effect may predominate.

Differentiating benign from malignant bone tumors using fluid-fluid level features on magnetic resonance imaging.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze different fluid-fluid level features between benign and malignant bone tumors on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was approved by the hospital ethics committee. We retrospectively analyzed 47 patients diagnosed with benign (n = 29) or malignant (n = 18) bone tumors demonstrated by biopsy/surgical resection and who showed the intratumoral fluid-fluid level on pre-surgical MRI. The maximum length of the largest fluid-fluid level and the ratio of the maximum length of the largest fluid-fluid level to the maximum length of a bone tumor in the sagittal plane were investigated for use in distinguishing benign from malignant tumors using the Mann-Whitney U-test and a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Fluid-fluid level was categorized by quantity (multiple vs. single fluid-fluid level) and by T1-weighted image signal pattern (high/low, low/high, and undifferentiated), and the findings were compared between the benign and malignant groups using the χ(2) test. RESULTS: The ratio of the maximum length of the largest fluid-fluid level to the maximum length of bone tumors in the sagittal plane that allowed statistically significant differentiation between benign and malignant bone tumors had an area under the ROC curve of 0.758 (95% confidence interval, 0.616-0.899). A cutoff value of 41.5% (higher value suggests a benign tumor) had sensitivity of 73% and specificity of 83%. CONCLUSION: The ratio of the maximum length of the largest fluid-fluid level to the maximum length of a bone tumor in the sagittal plane may be useful to differentiate benign from malignant bone tumors.