Benefit of repetitive intrathecal triamcinolone acetonide therapy in predominantly spinal multiple sclerosis: prediction by upper spinal cord atrophy.

Intrathecal injection of triamcinolone acetonide (TCA) has been shown to provide substantial benefit in a subset of progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with predominant spinal symptoms. We examined whether atrophy of the upper spinal cord (USC) as measured by MRI can serve as a predictive marker for response to repetitive intrathecal TCA application. Repetitive administration of 40 mg TCA was performed in 31 chronic progressive MS patients up to six times within 3 weeks.

Accuracy and reproducibility of a novel semi-automatic segmentation technique for MR volumetry of the pituitary gland.

Introduction: Although several reports about volumetric determination of the pituitary gland exist, volumetries have been solely performed by indirect measurements or manual tracing on the gland's boundaries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and reproducibility of a novel semi-automatic MR-based segmentation technique.

Methods: In an initial technical investigation, T1-weighted 3D native magnetised prepared rapid gradient echo sequences (1.

Diffusion tensor imaging in primary brain tumors: reproducible quantitative analysis of corpus callosum infiltration and contralateral involvement using a probabilistic mixture model.

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has been advocated as a promising tool for delineation of the extent of tumor infiltration by primary brain tumors. First reports show conflicting results mainly due to difficulties in reproducible determination of DTI-derived parameters. A novel method based on probabilistic voxel classification for a user-independent analysis of DTI-derived parameters is presented and tested in healthy controls and patients with primary brain tumors.

Non-rigid registration of a 3D ultrasound and a MR image data set of the female pelvic floor using a biomechanical model.

Background: The visual combination of different modalities is essential for many medical imaging applications in the field of Computer-Assisted medical Diagnosis (CAD) to enhance the clinical information content. Clinically, incontinence is a diagnosis with high clinical prevalence and morbidity rate. The search for a method to identify risk patients and to control the success of operations is still a challenging task.

Evaluation of accuracy in MS lesion volumetry using realistic lesion phantoms.

Rationale And Objectives: Quantitative analysis of such small structures as focal lesions in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) is an important issue in both diagnosis and therapy monitoring. To reach clinical relevance, the reproducibility and accuracy of a proposed method have to be validated. We propose a framework for the generation of realistic digital phantoms of MS lesions of known volumes and their incorporation into a magnetic resonance (MR) data set of a healthy volunteer.

Sensitivity and reproducibility of a new fast 3D segmentation technique for clinical MR-based brain volumetry in multiple sclerosis.

Fast, reliable and easy-to-use methods to quantify brain atrophy are of increasing importance in clinical studies on neuro-degenerative diseases. Here, ILAB 4, a new volumetry software that uses a fast semi-automated 3D segmentation of thin-slice T1-weighted 3D MR images based on a modified watershed transform and an automatic histogram analysis was evaluated. It provides the cerebral volumes: whole brain, white matter, gray matter and intracranial cavity.