Assessment of paclitaxel drug-coated balloon angioplasty for intracranial atherosclerotic disease based on high-resolution vessel wall magnetic resonance imaging.

Background: To accurately assess the treatment effect of paclitaxel drug-coated balloon (DCB) angioplasty is essential for intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) patients. This study aimed to investigate the clinical feasibility of high-resolution vessel wall MRI (HR-VWI) in assessing ICAD with DCB angioplasty.

Methods: Forty-five patients with intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis ≥ 70% confirmed by digital subtraction angiography (DSA) underwent HR-VWI before and after DCB angioplasty.

Can combined high-resolution vessel wall imaging and multiple post-labeling delay 3D pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling differentiate moyamoya disease from atherosclerotic moyamoya syndrome?

Purpose: To investigate whether moyamoya disease (MMD) and atherosclerotic moyamoya syndrome (AS-MMS) differ in vascular morphology and perfusion characteristics using T1w-CUBE imaging and multiple post-labeling delay 3D pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling imaging (MP 3D-PcASL), and to explore the potential of the combined techniques for accurate diagnosis of both diseases.

Method: This prospective study enrolled 51 patients with moyamoya vasculopathy, including 26 with MMD and 25 with AS-MMS. All patients underwent digital subtraction angiography (DSA)/magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), T1w-CUBE imaging, and MP 3D-PCASL examinations.

Amide proton transfer-weighted magnetic resonance imaging for the diagnosis of symptomatic chronic intracranial artery stenosis: a feasibility study.

Background: Hemodynamic changes after intracranial artery stenosis (ICAS) or occlusion are important causes of metabolic alterations in tissue. This study aimed to explore the feasibility of using amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to diagnose patients with symptomatic chronic ICAS based on pH variations caused by metabolite damage.

Methods: Sixty-seven patients with clinically confirmed unilateral anterior circulation ICAS (≥70% arterial narrowing) and 20 healthy volunteers were recruited for the study.

High-Resolution Vessel Wall MRI in Assessing Postoperative Restenosis of Intracranial Atherosclerotic Disease Before Drug-Coated Balloon Treatment: An Outcome Prediction Study.

Background: Postoperative restenosis frequently occurs in intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) patients after drug-coated balloon (DCB) treatment. However, high-risk plaques associated with postoperative restenosis remain to be explored.

Purpose: To assess whether high-resolution vessel wall MRI (HR-VWI) contributes to the identification of high-risk plaques associated with postoperative restenosis before DCB treatment.

Evaluating iron deposition in gray matter nuclei of patients with unilateral middle cerebral artery stenosis using quantitative susceptibility mapping.

Iron mediated oxidative stress is involved in the process of brain injury after long-term ischemia. While increased iron deposition in the affected brain regions was observed in animal models of ischemic stroke, potential changes in the brain iron content in clinical patients with cerebral ischemia remain unclear. Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM), a non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging technique, can be used to evaluate iron content in the gray matter (GM) nuclei reliably.

Aging of Chinese bony orbit: automatic calculation based on UNet++ and connected component analysis.

Purpose: Current research on the aging of bony orbit is usually done manually, which is inefficient and has a large error. In this paper, automatic segmentation of bony orbit based on deep learning and automatic calculation of the parameters of the segmented orbital contour (area and height of bony orbit) are presented.

Methods: The craniofacial CT scanning data of 595 Chinese were used to carry out three-dimensional reconstruction and output the craniofacial images.

Iron Deposition in Gray Matter Nuclei of Patients With Intracranial Artery Stenosis: A Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping Study.

This study aimed to use quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) to systematically investigate the changes of iron content in gray matter (GM) nuclei in patients with long-term anterior circulation artery stenosis (ACAS) and posterior circulation artery stenosis (PCAS). Twenty-five ACAS patients, 25 PCAS patients, and 25 age- and sex-matched healthy controls underwent QSM examination. Patients were scored using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and modified Rankin Scale (mRS) to assess the degree of neural function deficiency.

Deep Learning-Based CT Radiomics for Feature Representation and Analysis of Aging Characteristics of Asian Bony Orbit.

Objective: This paper puts forward a new method for automatic segmentation of bony orbit as well as automatic extraction and classification of aging features of segmented orbit contour based on depth learning, with which the aging mode of bony orbit contour is preliminarily validated.

Method: Three-dimensional reconstruction was carried out by using the craniofacial Computed Tomography scanning data of 595 adult Mongolians at different ages (119 young males, 78 young females, 109 middle-aged males, 89 middle-aged females, 95 elderly males, and 105 elderly females), the craniofacial images were exported, orbit contour images were obtained with U-Net segmentation network, and then the orbit contour features of young group, the middle-aged group and the elderly group were classified with the classification network. Next, contour area, height, and other features put forward in existing research were automatically calculated by using the connected component shape description method; and it was validated whether the aging features of the bony orbit only occur to partial or the whole orbit.

Can 3D Pseudo-Continuous Territorial Arterial Spin Labeling Effectively Diagnose Patients With Recanalization of Unilateral Middle Cerebral Artery Stenosis?

Background: Unilateral middle cerebral artery (MCA) stenosis, as an independent risk factor for stroke, requires an intervention operation for vessel recanalization. Accurate perfusion measurement is thus essential after the operation.

Purpose: To explore the feasibility of three-dimensional (3D) pseudo-continuous territorial arterial-spin-labeling (tASL) in evaluating MCA recanalization.

A High-Robust Automatic Reading Algorithm of Pointer Meters Based on Text Detection.

Automatic reading of pointer meters is of great significance for efficient measurement of industrial meters. However, existing algorithms are defective in the accuracy and robustness to illumination shooting angle when detecting various pointer meters. Hence, a novel algorithm for adaptive detection of different pointer meters was presented.