Pituitary T1 signal intensity at magnetic resonance imaging is reduced in patients with obesity: results from the CHIASM study.

Background: Despite obesity being well known to be associated with several pituitary hormone imbalances, pituitary appearance in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with obesity is understudied.

Objective: To evaluate the pituitary volume and signal intensity at MRI in patients with obesity.

Methods: This is a prospective study performed in an endocrine Italian referral center (ClinicalTrial.

A transient magnetic resonance spectroscopy peri-ischemic peak: a possible radiological biomarker of post-stroke neurogenesis.

Background And Aims: In adult human brain, neurogenesis seems to persist throughout life and ischemic stroke was proved to stimulate this process. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), a 1.28-ppm peak, putative biomarker of neural progenitor cells (NPCs), was identified both in vitro and in vivo, i.

A case of bilateral humerus varus from the late antiquity Catacomb of Santa Mustiola (Chiusi, Italy).

Objective: To report a case of bilateral humerus varus from a late antiquity archeological context in central Italy.

Materials: The individual is a 25-40-year-old female, dated to the 4th cent. CE, from the catacomb of Santa Mustiola in Chiusi, Italy.

Metastatic cancer and endentulism: Exploring comorbidity to assist with differential diagnosis in a case from Vico nel Lazio (Fr, Italy), 13th-15th century CE.

Objective: To differentially diagnose cranial lesions noted on a medieval skeleton and explore the importance of comorbidity.

Materials: A skull of an adult female with osteolytic and osteoblastic lesions, edentulism, and an ectopic tooth from an ossuary of the Church of Santa Maria in Vico del Lazio, Frosinone Italy, dating to the Middle Ages.

Methods: Macroscopic observations of the remains, CT scan, and differential diagnosis was undertaken.

Dilated Virchow-Robin spaces in children with seizures. A possible correlation?

Hypothesis: Virchow-Robin spaces (VRS) are perivascular spaces in the brain and can normally be visualized in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Dilated VRS (dVRS) are defined on the basis of their shape, and can rarely be observed in healthy subjects, or found in various diseases. A judgement of their role may derive from the appearance of the adjacent cerebral tissue and from the clinical context.

Bevacizumab-containing regimen in relapsed/progressed brain tumors: a single-institution experience.

Aim: The aim of the study is to assess tumor response, treatment-related toxicities, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) in patients with relapsed/refractory brain tumors treated with bevacizumab-containing regimen.

Methods: Patients that had received I and II line treatments with or without megatherapy were included. Doses and schedule were as follows: bevacizumab (BVZ) 10 mg/kg i.

Peri-procedural brain lesions prevention in CAS (3PCAS): Randomized trial comparing CGuard™ stent vs. Wallstent™.

Background: Aim of this study was to evaluate peri-procedural incidence of new diffusion-weighted-magnetic-resonance-imaging (DWMRI) brain lesions in CAS patients treated by carotid mesh stent (CGuard™) or closed-cell stent (Wallstent™).

Methods: Consecutive patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis ≥ 70% were submitted to preoperative DW-MRI scan, to exclude the presence of preoperative silent cerebral lesions. Patients were randomized to CGuard or Wallstent.

Immunological diagnosis as an adjunctive tool for an early diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis of an immune competent child in a low tuberculosis endemic country: a case report.

Background: Pediatric tuberculous meningitis is a highly morbid, often fatal disease. Its prompt diagnosis and treatment saves lives, in fact delays in the initiation of therapy have been associated with high mortality rates.

Case Presentation: This is a case of an Italian child who was diagnosed with tuberculous meningitis after a history of a month of headache, fatigue and weight loss.

In normal aging ventricular system never attains pathological values of Evans' index.

Ventricular enlargement in normal aging frequently forces the radiological diagnosis of hydrocephalus, but the reliability of Evans' index as a radiological marker of abnormal ventricular enlargement (values > 0.30) during aging is not assessed. Here we analyze ventricular size during aging and the reliability of Evans' index as a radiological marker of abnormal ventricular enlargement.

Olfactory Dysfunction, Olfactory Bulb Volume and Alzheimer's Disease: Is There a Correlation? A Pilot Study1.

Background: Olfactory dysfunction is present since the earliest stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In AD patients, the olfactory impairment has been correlated with atrophy of some structures of the olfactory system, but the role of the olfactory bulb remains unclear.

Objective: The aim of our work is to test if patients suffering from AD exhibit a statistically significant reduction of the average volume of the olfactory bulb (OBV) compared to healthy subjects.

The outcome of white matter abnormalities in early treated phenylketonuric patients: A retrospective longitudinal long-term study.

Background: Pathogenesis and clinical consequences of white matter abnormalities on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in phenylketonuric (PKU) patients are incompletely known.

Objective: To study white matter alterations progression and outcome and its relationships with phenylalanine levels and intelligence quotient (IQ) in early treated PKU subjects who underwent serial MRIs during a prolonged follow-up.

Methods: 47 early treated PKU patients (mean age 25.

Rhinocerebral zygomycosis with pansinusitis in a 14-year-old girl with type 1 diabetes: a case report and review of the literature.

Background: Zygomycosis is a rare life-threatening fungal infection affecting mostly patients with predisposing conditions such as diabetes mellitus, immunodeficiency, haemochromatosis or major trauma.

Methods: We describe a case of rhinocerebral zygomycosis in a girl with type 1 diabetes and review previous published cases and treatment options.

Results: A 14-year-old girl with type 1 diabetes mellitus occurred with dental pain, facial swelling, ecchymosis and left eye decreased visual acuity, unresponsive to antibiotic therapy.

Evaluation of the basal ganglia in neurofibromatosis type 1.

Purpose: Alterations of the brain microstructure and metabolism have been identified in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). In this study, we analyzed the basal ganglia of NF1 subjects without cognitive delay throughout a combined approach with magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in order to better define the metabolic and microstructural characteristics of these regions and, furthermore, to verify if metabolic and microstructural abnormalities may be present in normally developed NF1 patients.

Methods: A 3-T MRI with multivoxel MRS and DTI was performed in 14 NF1 patients and eight controls.

3T diffusion tensor imaging and electroneurography of peripheral nerve: a morphofunctional analysis in carpal tunnel syndrome.

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the diagnostic potential of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) for pathologies of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) through clinical, electrophysiological and morphological evaluation of the median nerve.

Methods: The present work was a multilevel prospective study involving 30 subjects, 15 of whom had carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and 15 healthy controls. All subjects underwent clinical evaluation through administration of the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ), electroneurography (ENG), 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging with DTI, and calculation of fractional anisotropy (FA) and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) at the flexor retinaculum.

Olfactory deficit and hippocampal volume loss for early diagnosis of Alzheimer disease: a pilot study.

Background: The aim of this pilot study was to verify the role of olfactory test and volumetric magnetic resonance imaging measure of hippocampus to predict conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer disease (AD).

Materials And Methods: Eighteen patients with amnesic mild cognitive impairment, broadly defined, were followed at 12 months. Hypothesized baseline predictors for follow-up conversion to AD were olfactory deficit and hippocampal volumes loss.

Corpus callosum abnormalities and potential age effect in men with schizophrenia: an MRI comparative study.

The goal of this investigation was to evaluate corpus callosum (CC) morphometry in schizophrenia. In consideration of possible confounders such as age, gender and handedness, our study sample was restricted to right-handed male subjects, aged 18-55 years. In addition, we controlled for age at onset, illness duration and exposure to antipsychotic medication.

Usefulness of diffusion tensor imaging and fiber tractography in neurological and neurosurgical pediatric diseases.

Introduction: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) with fiber tractography (FT) is a recently introduced imaging technique that is unique in providing detailed imaging of white matter (WM) tracts and connectivity between different regions of the brain not easily appreciated with other imaging methods.

Discussion: DTI has been used in recent years to investigate several disease conditions involving WM, including brain malformations, cerebral ischemia, multiple sclerosis, neurocutaneous syndromes, and brain tumors.

Conclusion: In this paper, we focus our attention on the main applications of DTI-FT in the field of pediatric neurology, adding our personal experience.

Long-term posaconazole treatment and follow-up of rhino-orbital-cerebral mucormycosis in a diabetic girl.

To demonstrate that the 2-yr clinical follow-up of our patient strongly suggests that long-term therapy with posaconazole (POS) is safe and beneficial in treatment and prevention of relapses of, otherwise fatal, central nervous system mucormycosis. Mucormycosis is a very rare opportunistic mycotic infection of diabetic children. We present the 30-month follow-up of a 12-yr-old girl affected by diabetic ketoacidotic coma, complicated by rhinocerebral mucormycosis and successfully treated with POS at the initial daily dose of 5 mg/kg t.

Midline medulloblastoma versus astrocytoma: the position of the superior medullary velum as a sign for diagnosis.

Purpose: We wish to describe the position of the superior medullary velum (SMV) in midline posterior fossa tumours as a sign in helping to distinguish between midline medulloblastoma and midline astrocytoma.

Material And Methods: Sagittal T1-weighted MRI images of 21 consecutive patients with histologically documented posterior fossa midline astrocytomas (nine cases) and medulloblastomas (12 cases) were reviewed, with respect to the position of the velum medullare superius.

Results: In all medulloblastomas the SMV was superiorly dislocated; in eight astrocytomas it was anteriorly and/or inferiorly disclocated; only in one astrocytoma the SMV presented upward dislocation.

Neurological soft signs and cerebral measurements investigated by means of MRI in schizophrenic patients.

Neurophysiologic research has shown a Neurological Soft Sign (NSS) characteristic prevalence in schizophrenic patients, and correlations between NSS and the most frequently cerebral alterations. The aim of this study was to investigate, by means of MRI, the quantitative alterations of cortical and subcortical structures and their correlation with NSS in a sample of schizophrenic patients. Linear measures of lateral ventricular (Evans ratio), third ventricular (Third Ventricular Width), hippocampal (Interuncal Index) and cerebellar (Verm Cerebellar Atrophy) atrophy were made on magnified MR images of 33 patients with a DSM IV diagnoses of chronic schizophrenia.

MRI in the acute phase of spinal cord traumatic lesions: Relationship between MRI findings and neurological outcome.

Purpose: To evaluate the role of emergency MRI in the diagnosis of acute spinal injuries, and to correlate the MRI pattern with the neurological outcome.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-eight patients with MRI-proven spinal cord injury were classified according to the Frankel classification. MRI was always performed within 8 hours from trauma.

A C1-2 locked facet in a child with atlantoaxial rotatory fixation. Case report.

Conservative treatment is reported in a child with atlantoaxial rotatory fixation. Three-dimensional (3D) computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging demonstrated the degree of dislocation and alar ligament damage. A rigid cervical collar and muscle relaxant agents without any traction allowed full recovery.

Reduced pineal volume in male patients with schizophrenia: no relationship to clinical features of the illness.

Several investigations have suggested pineal gland abnormalities in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. The pineal volume on brain magnetic resonance imaging scans was calculated in 15 male schizophrenic inpatients and in 16 matched control subjects. The statistical comparison found a significant difference of pineal gland volume between schizophrenics and controls (P = 0.