MRI evidence of brain atrophy, white matter damage, and functional adaptive changes in patients with cervical spondylosis and prolonged spinal cord compression.

Objectives: To investigate the effect of cervical spondylosis (CS) in the brain with a combination of advanced neuroimaging techniques.

Methods: Twenty-seven patients with CS and 24 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were studied. Disease severity was quantified using the Modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association Scoring System (mJOHA).

Is diffusion tensor imaging useful in the assessment of the sciatic nerve and its pathologies? Our clinical experience.

Objective: To evaluate the usefulness of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in the clinical setting as a complementary tool to conventional MRI in the study and assessment of the sciatic nerve and its pathologies.

Methods: 17 patients diagnosed with different types of sciatic neuropathy and 10 healthy controls underwent a conventional MRI and a DTI study in a 3-T MR scanner (Achieva(®) 3-T X-Series; Philips Healthcare, Netherlands).

Results: In the control group, we were able to track and visualize the common sciatic nerve and its main branches from hip to foot.

Response to immunotherapy in CLIPPERS: clinical, MRI, and MRS follow-up.

Chronic lymphocytic inflammation with pontine perivascular enhancement responsive to steroids (CLIPPERS) is a recently defined inflammatory central nervous system disorder responsive to steroids with characteristic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features. We report a 69-year-old man presenting with gait ataxia with the characteristic MRI features of CLIPPERS and describe the clinical, MRI, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) follow-up after treatment with glucocorticosteroids. Brain and spine MRI showed punctate enhancement peppering the brainstem, cerebellar peduncles, and upper cervical cord.

Epidermoid cyst with a metabolite pattern mimicking a brain abscess. A magnetic resonance spectroscopy study.

Background And Purpose: Intracranial epidermal cysts are benign uncommon lesions. Such lesions arise from an inclusion of an ectodermal element during neural tube closure, in which dermal elements become trapped in the suture line, diploe, meninges, or scalp. Reports have extensively demonstrated the typical magnetic resonance (MR) spectra with the presence of large lactate signals with a virtual absence of healthy brain metabolites.

Usefulness of tissue polypeptide antigen in the follow-up of bladder cancer.

Objectives: To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of serum tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) as a tumor marker for monitoring tumor recurrence in a prospective Phase II study.

Methods: This study consisted of 421 subjects allocated to three groups: 241 patients treated for bladder cancer between 1991 and 1995, 126 subjects with a previous history of bladder tumor but with no recurrence at the time of study enrollment, and 54 healthy volunteers. Soluble TPA concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay.