Background: The rate of recovery from the vegetative state (VS) is low. Currently, little is known of the mechanisms and cerebral changes that accompany those relatively rare cases of good recovery. Here, we combined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to study the evolution of one VS patient at one month post-ictus and again twelve months later when he had recovered consciousness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe thalamus is known to play a key role in arousal regulation and support of human consciousness. Neuropathological studies have identified thalamic damage as one of the most common abnormalities present in the brains of patients who were in a vegetative state (VS) or a minimally-conscious state (MCS) state at the time of their deaths. Nonetheless, no in vivo studies of thalamic abnormalities in these patients have been conducted.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrimary Objective: To study cerebral response in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task of speech perception in a sample of patients in vegetative state (VS) and minimally conscious state (MCS) after traumatic brain injury.
Methods: Three patients in VS, four patients in MCS and 19 healthy volunteers were enrolled for the study. All subjects underwent an fMRI task of passive listening of narratives played forward and backward, alternated with periods of silence.
Semin Ultrasound CT MR
June 2007
The most important objective in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is to determine the location of disk, because the presence of a displaced disk is a critical sign of TMJ dysfunction. However, a high frequency of disk displacement appears in asymptomatic volunteers; thus, other MRI indirect signs of TMJ dysfunction can help in the diagnosis. Further studies using the latest MRI techniques allow a better understanding of the sources of joint pain and the discrepancy between imaging findings and patient symptoms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStructural neuroimaging techniques have consistently shown that treatment of schizophrenic patients with conventional antipsychotics causes an increase in basal ganglia volume. However, findings in schizophrenic patients treated with the newer atypical antipsychotic drugs are less consistently reported. To explore this issue, the authors used a whole-brain, unbiased, and automated technique for comparing brain structural features across scans in schizophrenic patients before and after a treatment with the atypical antipsychotic risperidone.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParkinson's disease (PD) involves neuropathological changes in the limbic system that lead to neuronal loss and volumetric reductions of several nuclei. We investigated possible volumetric reductions of the amygdala and hippocampus associated to PD. We carried out magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) volumetric studies in 16 patients with PD and dementia (PDD), 16 patients with PD without dementia (PD), and 16 healthy subjects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt has been suggested that the pathophysiology of panic disorder (PD) may involve abnormalities in several brain structures, including the amygdala. To date, however, no study has used quantitative structural neuroimaging techniques to examine amygdalar anatomy in this disorder. Volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of the amygdalas, hippocampi, and temporal lobes were conducted in 12 drug-free, symptomatic PD patients (six females and six males), and 12 case-matched healthy comparison subjects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The authors examined possible cerebral gray matter abnormalities in patients with panic disorder.
Method: Gray matter concentration in 18 panic disorder outpatients and 18 healthy subjects was compared by using a voxel-based morphometry approach.
Results: Gray matter density of the left parahippocampal gyrus was significantly lower in patients with panic disorder compared with healthy subjects.
Background: Magnetic resonance spectroscopy has been shown to be useful in differentiating idiopathic Parkinson disease (PD) from atypical parkinsonian syndromes such as progressive supranuclear palsy, multiple system atrophy, and corticobasal degeneration.
Objective: To systematically investigate the utility of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in distinguishing between idiopathic PD with dementia (PDD) and without dementia.
Design: Group comparisons and correlations of brain metabolites with clinical and neuropsychological variables.
Introduction And Objectives: In this study we measured the concentrations of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and several biochemical markers of myocardial damage after elective external cardioversion or internal cardioversion by specific catheters or automatic defibrillators.
Material And Methods: Biochemical markers were analyzed prospectively for 30 consecutive patients after electrical cardioversion. Concentrations of cTnI, myoglobin, creatine kinase (CK), CK-MB and the MB/CK ratio were determined in samples before cardioversion and 2, 8 and 24 h later.