Diffusion-weighted imaging for the cellularity assessment and matrix characterization of soft tissue tumour.

PURPOSE: To evaluate whether apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is able to investigate the histological features of soft tissue tumours. METHODS: We reviewed MRIs of soft tissue tumours performed from 2012 to 2015 to calculate the average ADCs. We included 46 patients (27 male; mean age: 57 years, range 12-85 years) with histologically proven soft tissue tumours (10 benign, 2 intermediate 34 malignant) grouped into eight tumour type classes. An experienced pathologist assigned a semi-quantitative cellularity score (very high, high, medium and low) and tumour grading. The t test, ANOVA and linear regression were used to correlate ADC with clinicopathological data. Approximate receiver operating characteristic curves were created to predict possible uses of ADC to differentiate benign from malignant tumours. RESULTS: There was a significant difference (p < 0.01) in ADCs between these three groups excluding myxoid sarcomas. A significant difference was also evident between the tumour type classes (p < 0.001), grade II and III myxoid lesions (p < 0.05), tumour grading classes (p < 0.001) and cellularity scores classes (p < 0.001), with the lowest ADCs in the very high cellularity. While the linear regression analysis showed a significant relationship between ADC and tumour cellularity (r = 0.590, p ≤ 0.05) and grading (r = 0.437, p ≤ 0.05), no significant relationship was found with age, gender, tumour size and histological subtype. An optimal cut-off ADC value of 1.45 × 10-3 mm2/s with 76.8% accuracy was found to differentiate benign from malignant tumours. CONCLUSIONS: DWI may offer adjunctive information about soft tissue tumours, but its clinical role is still to be defined.

Diffusion tensor imaging and tractography of the kidneys: assessment of chronic parenchymal diseases.

OBJECTIVE: To assess renal dysfunction in chronic kidney diseases using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). METHODS: Forty-seven patients with impaired renal function (study group) and 17 patients without renal diseases (control group) were examined using DTI sequences. Cortical and medullary regions of interest (ROIs) were located to obtain the corresponding values of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and the fractional anisotropy (FA). The mean values of the ADC and FA, for each ROI site, were obtained in each group and were compared. Furthermore, the correlations between the diffusion parameters and the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were determined. RESULTS: In both the normal and affected kidneys, we obtained the cortico-medullary difference of the ADC and the FA values. The FA value in the medulla was significantly lower (P = 0.0149) in patients with renal function impairment as compared to patients with normal renal function. A direct correlation between DTI parameters and the eGFR was not found. Tractography visualised disruption of the regular arrangement of the tracts in patient with renal function alteration. CONCLUSION: DTI could be a useful tool in the evaluation of chronic kidney disease and, in particular, the medullary FA value seems to be the main parameter for assessing renal damage. KEY POINTS: • Magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (MRDTI) provides new information about renal problems. • DTI allows non-invasive repeatable evaluation of the renal parenchyma, without contrast media. • DTI could become useful in the management of chronic parenchymal disease. • DTI seems more appropriate for renal evaluation than diffusion-weighted imaging.

Classification Scheme of Heating Risk during MRI Scans on Patients with Orthopaedic Prostheses.

Due to the large variety of possible clinical scenarios, a reliable heating-risk assessment is not straightforward when patients with arthroplasty undergo MRI scans. This paper proposes a simple procedure to estimate the thermal effects induced in patients with hip, knee, or shoulder arthroplasty during MRI exams. The most representative clinical scenarios were identified by a preliminary frequency analysis, based on clinical service databases, collecting MRI exams of 11,658 implant carrier patients. The thermal effects produced by radiofrequency and switching gradient fields were investigated through 588 numerical simulations performed on an ASTM-like phantom, considering four prostheses, two static field values, seven MR sequences, and seven regions of imaging. The risk assessment was inspired by standards for radiofrequency fields and by scientific studies for gradient fields. Three risk tiers were defined for the radiofrequency, in terms of whole-body and local SAR averages, and for GC fields, in terms of temperature elevation. Only 50 out of 588 scenarios require some caution to be managed. Results showed that the whole-body SAR is not a self-reliant safety parameter for patients with metallic implants. The proposed numerical procedure can be easily extended to any other scenario, including the use of detailed anatomical models.

Diffusion tensor imaging in renal artery stenosis: a preliminary report.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the diffusion properties in the kidneys affected by renal artery stenosis (RAS) using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). METHODS: In this prospective study, 35 patients with RAS and 15 patients without renal abnormalities were enrolled and examined using DTI. Cortical and medullary regions of interest (ROIs) were located to obtain the corresponding values of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA). The cortical and medullary ADC and FA were compared in the kidney affected by variable degrees of stenosis (RAS 50-75% and >75%) vs controls, using the one-way ANOVA and Student's t-test. The Spearman correlation test was used to correlate the mean ADC and FA values in the cortex and medulla with the estimate glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). RESULTS: For the controls, the ADC value was significantly (p = 0.03) higher in the cortex than in the medulla; the FA value was significantly (p = 0.001) higher in the medulla than in the cortex. Compared with the controls, a significant reduction in the cortical ADC was present with a RAS of 50-75% and >75% (p = 0.001 and 0.041, respectively); a significant reduction in the medullary FA was verified only for RAS >75% (p = 0.023). The Spearman correlation test did not show a statistically significant correlation between the cortical and medullary ADC and FA, and the eGFR. CONCLUSION: The alterations of the diffusional parameters caused by RAS can be detected by DTI and could be useful in the diagnostic evaluation of these patients. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: 1. Magnetic resonance DTI could provide useful information about renal involvement in RAS.2. Magnetic resonance DTI allows non-invasive repeatable evaluation of the renal parenchyma, without contrast media.

Locally advanced prostate cancer: three-dimensional magnetic resonance spectroscopy to monitor prostate response to therapy.

PURPOSE: To correlate results of three-dimensional magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels and time since external beam irradiation (EBRT) in patients treated with long-term hormone therapy (HT) and EBRT for locally advanced disease to verify successful treatment by documenting the achievement of metabolic atrophy (MA). METHODS AND MATERIALS: Between 2006 and 2008, 109 patients were consecutively enrolled. MA was assessed by choline and citrate peak area-to-noise-ratio <5:1. Cancerous metabolism (CM) was defined by choline-to-creatine ratio >1.5:1 or choline signal-to-noise-ratio >5:1. To test the strength of association between MRSI results and the time elapsed since EBRT (TEFRT), PSA levels, Gleason score (GS), and stage, logistic regression (LR) was performed. p value <0.05 was statistically significant. The patients' outcomes were verified in 2011. RESULTS: MRSI documented MA in 84 of 109 and CM in 25 of 109 cases. LR showed that age, GS, stage, and initial and recent PSA had no significant impact on MRSI results which were significantly related to PSA values at the time of MRSI and to TEFRT. Patients were divided into three groups according to TEFRT: <1 year, 1-2 years, and >2 years. MA was detected in 54.1% of patients of group 1, 88.9% of group 2, and in 94.5% of group 3 (100% when PSA nadir was reached). CM was detected in 50% of patients with reached PSA nadir in group 1. Local relapse was found in 3 patients previously showing CM at long TEFRT. CONCLUSION: MA detection, indicative of successful treatment because growth of normal or abnormal cells cannot occur without metabolism, increases with decreasing PSA levels and increasing time on HT after EBRT. This supports long-term HT in advanced prostate cancer. Larger study series are needed to assess whether MRSI could predict local relapse by detecting CM at long TEFRT.

Renal diffusion tensor imaging: is it possible to define the tubular pathway? A case report.

The authors report a case of unilateral xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis, associated with chronic lithiasis studied by standard clinical magnetic resonance imaging protocol and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Maps of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA) and tractography were reconstructed on both healthy and pathologic kidney. ADC and FA values are in agreement with the literature. Tractography reconstruction of tubular renal architecture was confirmed by histology. This result suggests the potential ability of DTI to detect structural alterations in the architecture of the kidney, as noninvasive tool, preceding the onset of clinical-laboratory alterations.

Quantitative proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the human cervical spinal cord at 3 Tesla.

Cervical spinal cord spectroscopy has the potential to add metabolic information to spinal cord MRI and improve the clinical evaluation and research investigation of spinal cord diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and intraspinal tumors. However, in vivo proton MR spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) of the spinal cord is difficult to perform due to magnetic field inhomogeneities, physiological movements, and the size of the anatomical region of interest (ROI). For these reasons, few spinal cord (1)H-MRS studies have been undertaken and two preliminary studies on a 3T system were only recently presented as abstracts. In this work we demonstrate the feasibility of cervical spinal cord quantitative (1)H-MRS on a clinical 3T system, propose a study protocol, and report quantification results obtained from healthy volunteers. The main metabolite concentration ratios obtained in 10 healthy subjects, as provided by LCModel, were as follows: total N-acetyl aspartate/creatine (tNAA/Cr) 1.4 +/- 0.3, choline/creatine (Cho/Cr) 0.5 +/- 0.1, and myoinositol/creatine (mI/Cr) 1.7 +/- 0.2. A significant difference was found between spinal cord tNAA, Cr, Cho, and mI concentration ratios and brainstem concentrations previously acquired on the same system.

Assessment of glutamate and glutamine contribution to in vivo N-acetylaspartate quantification in human brain by (1)H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

N-Acetylaspartate (NAA) is one of the most important metabolites detectable by brain (1)H-MRS being considered an index of neuronal integrity. At the low magnetic field used in most clinical settings beta,gamma-glutamate/glutamine (Glx) resonances are very close and partially overlap the methyl-NAA resonance interfering with NAA quantification especially at low TE and in the presence of increased Glx signals. NAA overestimation due to Glx on a set of model solutions containing NAA, glutamate, and glutamine in variable amounts was evaluated and the result tested in vivo in six healthy controls and five age- and sex-matched patients with hepatic encephalopathy (HE), the latter having an increased Glx content. A method to assess in vivo the NAA overestimation caused by Glx is proposed. A perfect match was obtained between the assessment of Glx contamination on the NAA of healthy controls and that obtained on the model solutions. However, a substantial difference in NAA overestimation was found between controls and HE patients that cannot be explained by our model. An interpretative hypothesis is provided.

Deficit of in vivo mitochondrial ATP production in OPA1-related dominant optic atrophy.

Dominant optic atrophy has been associated with mutations in the OPA1 gene, which encodes for a dynamin-related GTPase, a mitochondrial protein implicated in the formation and maintenance of mitochondrial network and morphology. We used phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy to assess calf muscle oxidative metabolism in six patients from two unrelated families carrying the c.2708-2711delTTAG deletion in exon 27 of the OPA1 gene. The rate of postexercise phosphocreatine resynthesis, a measure of mitochondrial adenosine triphosphate production rate, was significantly delayed in the patients. Our in vivo results show for the first time to our knowledge a deficit of oxidative phosphorylation in OPA1-related DOA.