Patricia Gervai

Human cervical spinal cord funiculi: investigation with magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging.

To use spinal cord diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) for investigating human cervical funiculi, acquire axial diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data with an in‐plane resolution sufficient to delineate subquadrants within the spinal cord, obtain corresponding DTI metrics, and assess potential regional differences.

Comparison of spatial working memory in children with prenatal alcohol exposure and those diagnosed with ADHD; A functional magnetic resonance imaging study

BackgroundAlcohol related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND) falls under the umbrella of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), but individuals do not demonstrate the facial characteristics associated with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), making diagnosis difficult. While attentional problems in ARND are similar to those found in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the underlying impairment in attention pathways may be different.MethodsFunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of a working memory (1-back) task of 63 children, 10 to 14 years old, diagnosed with ARND and ADHD, as well as typically developing (TD) controls, was conducted at 3 T. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data were also acquired.ResultsActivations were observed in posterior parietal and occipital regions in the TD group and in dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior parietal regions in the ARND group, whereas the ADHD group activated only dorsolateral prefrontal regions, during the working memory component of the task (1-back minus 0-back contrast). The increases in frontal and parietal activity were significantly greater in the ARND group compared to the other groups. This increased activity was associated with reduced accuracy and increased response time variability, suggesting that ARND subjects exert greater effort to manage short-term memory load. Significantly greater intra-subject variability, demonstrated by fMRI region-of-interest analysis, in the ADHD and ARND groups compared to the TD group suggests that moment-to-moment lapses in attention contributed to their poorer task performance. Differences in functional activity in ARND subjects with and without a diagnosis of ADHD resulted primarily from reduced activation by the ARND/ADHD + group during the 0-back task. In contrast, children with ADHD alone clearly showed reduced activations during the 1-back task. DTI analysis revealed that the TD group had significantly higher total tract volume and number of fibers than the ARND group. These measures were negatively correlated with errors on the 1-back task, suggesting a link between white matter integrity and task performance.ConclusionsfMRI activations suggest that the similar behavior of children with ARND and ADHD on a spatial working memory task is the result of different cognitive events. The nature of ADHD in children with ARND appears to differ from that of children with ADHD alone.

Default Mode Network Functional Connectivity Altered in Failed Back Surgery Syndrome

UNLABELLED The purpose of this study was to identify alterations in the default mode network of failed back surgery syndrome patients as compared to healthy subjects. Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging was conducted at 3 Tesla and data were analyzed with an independent component analysis. Results indicate an overall reduced functional connectivity of the default mode network and recruitment of additional pain modulation brain regions, including dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, insula, and additional sensory motor integration brain regions, including precentral and postcentral gyri, for failed back surgery syndrome patients. PERSPECTIVE This article presents alterations in the default mode network of chronic low back pain patients with failed back surgery syndrome as compared to healthy participants.

Tractography of Meyer's Loop asymmetries

PURPOSE The purpose of the current study was to use diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to conduct tractography of the optic radiations (OR) and its component bundles and to assess both the degree of hemispheric asymmetry and the inter-subject variability of Meyers Loop (ML). We hypothesized that there are significant left versus right differences in the anterior extent of ML to the temporal pole (TP) in healthy subjects. MATERIALS AND METHODS DTI data were acquired on a 3T Siemens MRI system using a single-shot Spin Echo EPI sequence. The dorsal, central and ML bundles of the OR were tracked and visualized in forty hemispheres of twenty healthy volunteers. The uncinate fasciculus (UF) was also tracked in these subjects so that it could be used as a distinct anatomical reference. Measurements were derived for the distance between ML-TP, ML and the temporal horn (ML-TH) and ML and the uncinate fasciculus (ML-UF). Paired difference t-tests were carried out with SPSS 14.0. RESULTS ML and the UF were successfully tracked and visualized in all 20 volunteers. Significant hemispheric asymmetries were found for all measurements with left distances shorter than the right (P<0.005). In 50% of the subjects the left ML-UF distance was ≤1.9 mm. CONCLUSION The results support our hypothesis and demonstrate that left ML-TP distances are significantly shorter than right ML-TP distances. These asymmetries are also reflected in shorter left distances between ML-TH and ML-UF. Moreover, these results are of interest to left-sided temporal lobe epilepsy surgery because it is not only more likely to disturb the anterior extent of ML but also renders the often closely located posterior aspect of the left UF more vulnerable to potential surgical impact.

Magnetic resonance imaging tracking of alginate beads used for drug delivery of growth factors at sites of cardiac damage.

Alginate-based beads labeled with contrast agent and loaded with vascular growth hormones were used for site-specific chronic delivery of hormones at the site of myocardial damage in a porcine model. Position of the beads within the pericardium could be monitored by MRI for optimal hormone delivery due to the presence of contrast agent. The beads facilitate the slow release of cytochrome c, myoglobin and methemoglobin used as protein models of growth factors. This application allows for site-specific delivery of hormones while the incorporated contrast agent in the beads provides a tool for MRI tracking in chronic studies.

Characterization of cryoinjury-induced infarction with manganese-and gadolinium-enhanced MRI and optical spectroscopy in pig hearts

PURPOSE To investigate progression of cryoinjury in pigs using contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as well as optical spectroscopy and imaging. METHODS Cryoinjury was produced in 16 pigs in vivo and investigated using Gd-and Mn-enhanced MRI, optical imaging/spectroscopy and histology in acute and chronic setting up to 4 weeks after the injury. RESULTS (1) Acute cryoinjury resulted in formation of a lesion with a severely reduced rate of sub-epicardial indocyanine green (intravascular optical flow tracer) passage. In vivo late Gd-enhanced MRI showed a approximately 10 mm deep hypointense area that was surrounded by a hyperintense rim while ex vivo Mn-enhanced MRI (MEMRI) detected a homogenous hypointense zone. Histological and spectroscopic examination revealed embolic erythrocytes blockages within the cryolesion with a thin necrotic rim neighboring the normal myocardium. (2) Chronic 4-week cryoinjury was characterized by uniform Gd-enhancement, whereas MEMRI revealed reduced Mn(2+)enhancement. Histological examination showed replacement of the cryoinjured myocardium by scar tissue. CONCLUSIONS Acute cryoinjury resulted in formation of a no-reflow core embolized by erythrocytes and surrounded by a rim of necrotic tissue. Upon injury progression, the no-reflow zone shrunk and was completely replaced with scar tissue by 4 weeks after injury.

Visualization of Water Transport Pathways in Plants Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a well established non-invasive technique to retrieve structural information from plants and fruits. Water transport inside these materials has also been studied with MRI, however, the integrate combination of studying both structure and dynamics has hardly been considered. Here it is shown how the anisotropic nature of water difiusion in channels or vessels inside the plant can be used to map these vessels in three dimensions. Difiusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), an MR technique initially introduced to study white matter in mammalian brains, is used to track water transport pathways inside Thompson Seedless grapes and celery as an example.

Manganese‐enhanced MRI of acute cardiac ischemia and chronic infarction in pig hearts: kinetic analysis of enhancement development

To assess infarction development in pig hearts, Mn‐enhanced and Gd‐enhanced MRI were used. In domestic pigs (25–35 kg, n = 37), the first and second diagonal branches of the left anterior descending coronary artery were ligated to induce acute ischemia and infarction (ischemia+reperfusion) or chronic infarction of increasing duration (3– 28 days). Ex vivo experiments were performed on hearts perfused in the Langendorff mode with a 50:50 mixture of blood and Krebs–Henseleit buffer using a spin‐echo sequence on a 7 T Bruker imaging system. Signal acquisition from the heart and two reference test tubes (H2O and H2O + 10 mM CuSO4) was gated by the left ventricular pressure wave. T1‐weighted images of six 8 mm short‐axis slices (2 mm interslice gaps) were obtained before and after the addition of 0.2 mM MnCl2 every 5 min over a 30–45 min period. Signal intensities were normalized to those of the H2O reference and fitted by a monoexponential function. The rates of intensity increase and maximal increases were significantly lower in the ischemic/infarcted areas and showed a trend to rise on infarction progression. In vivo Gd‐enhanced MRI (3 T Siemens scanner) and in vivo/ex vivo near‐infrared imaging confirmed major Mn‐enhanced MRI findings. Triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining revealed necrotic areas in all chronic infarctions and no necrosis after acute ischemia. We conclude that MnCl2 highlights ischemic areas because of the low collateral flow characteristic of pig hearts, whereas in the infarcted areas with substantial perfusion, scar tissue components are important for contrast distribution. Copyright

Dynamic manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging can detect chronic cryoinjury-induced infarction in pig hearts in vivo.

The purpose was to investigate whether MnCl(2) can serve as an MRI contrast agent to detect chronic cryoinjury infarction in pigs in vivo and whether MnCl(2) causes significant hemodynamic disturbances. Hearts were subjected to a topical 2 min cryothermia to establish myocardial infarction (MI). Thereafter GdDTPA-enhanced MRI was performed at 0, 1, 2 and 3 weeks using a 3 T scanner. Four weeks post-cryoinjury the pigs underwent in vivo Mn-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI). MnCl(2) (70 μmol/kg, 14 min) was infused i.v. intermittently (n = 4) or continuously (n = 5) and T(1)-weighted images were acquired every 2 min simultaneously recording heart rate and arterial blood pressure. Either infusion scheme led to an immediate increment in MR signal intensity (SI) within the left ventricular (LV) blood pool and LV normal and cryoinjured myocardium, which reached a maximum at the end of infusion. No significant difference was observed between the normal and cryoinjured myocardium. After infusion termination, SI decreased faster within the LV blood pool and the MI, as compared with the normal myocardium in either group, resulting in significant contrast between the MI and normal tissue (intermittent: 18 ± 7 vs 49 ± 13%, p = 0.002; continuous: 19 ± 8 vs 36 ± 9%, p = 0.004). Infarction sizes were similar in Mn(2+)- and GdDTPA-enhanced images at 4 and 3 weeks post injury, respectively. Thus, in vivo MEMRI differentiated infarcted from normal myocardium in pig hearts subjected to 4-week cryoinjury. Compared with intermittent infusion, continuous infusion minimized hemodynamic fluctuations.

Measurement of Viscoelastic Properties of Condensed Matter using Magnetic Resonance Elastography

Measurement of Viscoelastic Properties of Condensed Matter using Magnetic Resonance Elastography Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is a phase contrast technique that provides a non-invasive means of evaluating the viscoelastic properties of soft condensed matter. This has a profound bio-medical significance as it allows for the virtual palpation of areas of the body usually not accessible to the hands of a medical practitioner, such as the brain. Applications of MRE are not restricted to bio-medical applications, however, the viscoelastic properties of prepackaged food products can also non-invasively be determined. Here we describe the design and use of a modular MRE acoustic actuator that can be used for experiments ranging from the human brain to pre-packaged food products. The unique feature of the used actuator design is its simplicity and flexibility, which allows easy reconfiguration.