Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Skeletal Muscle Disease.

Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (qMRI) describes the development and use of MRI to quantify physical, chemical, and/or biological properties of living systems. Neuromuscular diseases often exhibit a temporally varying, spatially heterogeneous, and multi-faceted pathology. The goal of this protocol is to characterize this pathology using qMRI methods.

A rapid approach for quantitative magnetization transfer imaging in thigh muscles using the pulsed saturation method.

Quantitative magnetization transfer (qMT) imaging in skeletal muscle may be confounded by intramuscular adipose components, low signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), and voluntary and involuntary motion artifacts. Collectively, these issues could create bias and error in parameter fitting. In this study, technical considerations related to these factors were systematically investigated, and solutions were proposed.

Multi-parametric MRI characterization of healthy human thigh muscles at 3.0 T - relaxation, magnetization transfer, fat/water, and diffusion tensor imaging.

Muscle diseases commonly have clinical presentations of inflammation, fat infiltration, fibrosis, and atrophy. However, the results of existing laboratory tests and clinical presentations are not well correlated. Advanced quantitative MRI techniques may allow the assessment of myo-pathological changes in a sensitive and objective manner.

Multi-parametric MRI characterization of inflammation in murine skeletal muscle.

Myopathies often display a common set of complex pathologies that include muscle weakness, inflammation, compromised membrane integrity, fat deposition, and fibrosis. Multi-parametric, quantitative, non-invasive imaging approaches may be able to resolve these individual pathological components. The goal of this study was to use multi-parametric MRI to investigate inflammation as an isolated pathological feature.

Terpene compound drug as medical expulsive therapy for ureterolithiasis: a meta-analysis.

The aim of this study is to investigate the efficacy of terpene compound drug (pinene, camphene, borneol, anethole, fenchone and cineol in olive oil) in facilitating spontaneous passage of ureteral calculi through meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCT). Systematic literature search on MEDLINE, EMBASE, OVID, Science Direct, Proquest, Google scholar, Cochrane Library databases and reference list of related literatures were done without language restriction. RCTs on ureterolithiasis medical expulsive therapy (MET) that compare terpene compound drug versus placebo/control group or alpha-blockers were identified.

Quantitative effects of inclusion of fat on muscle diffusion tensor MRI measurements.

Purpose: To determine the minimum water percentage in a muscle region of interest that would allow diffusion tensor (DT-) MRI data to reflect the diffusion properties of pure muscle accurately.

Materials And Methods: Proton density-weighted images with and without fat saturation were obtained at the mid-thigh in four subjects. Co-registered DT-MR images were used to calculate the diffusion tensor's eigenvalues and fractional anisotropy.

Diffusion-weighted imaging of inflammatory myopathies: polymyositis and dermatomyositis.

Muscles of myositis patients examined with MRI demonstrate heterogeneous pathology ranging from unaffected muscle groups to severe inflammation, fat infiltration, and eventually, more serious fat replacement. The purpose of this investigation was to characterize myositic thigh muscles using diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and to examine fluid motion at various disease stages. We chose to characterize total fluid motion within the muscle using the model proposed by Le Bihan et al (6,7) in which the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), diffusion in the extra- and intracellular muscle compartments (D), perfusion in capillaries (pseudodiffusion) (D*), and volume fraction of capillary perfusion (f) are determined.

Imaging and skeletal muscle disease.

Imaging techniques have assumed increasing importance in the diagnostic approach to patients with muscle disease. These techniques include computed tomography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). For most disorders of muscle, ultrasound and MRI are more useful than computed tomography.

Magnesium abnormalities of skeletal muscle in dermatomyositis and juvenile dermatomyositis.

Objective: To characterize abnormalities in magnesium levels in the muscles of patients with dermatomyositis (DM) and juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) and to evaluate the beneficial effects of prednisone and immunosuppressive therapy in elevating free magnesium (Mg(2+)) and ATP-bound magnesium (Mg-ATP).

Methods: The study groups consisted of 12 adult patients with DM and 10 juvenile patients with JDM. The 2 control groups were 11 normal adults and 6 healthy children.