High Field MRI in Parotid Gland Tumors: A Diagnostic Algorithm.

Imaging of parotid tumors is crucial for surgery planning, but it cannot distinguish malignant from benign lesions with absolute reliability. The aim of the study was to establish a diagnostic MRI algorithm to differentiate parotid tumors. A retrospective study was conducted including all patients with parotid tumors, who underwent 3T-MRI and surgery.

Association of Early fMRI Connectivity Alterations With Different Cognitive Phenotypes in Patients With Newly Diagnosed Parkinson Disease.

Background And Objectives: According to the dual syndrome hypothesis, patients with Parkinson disease (PD) with visuospatial deficits are more likely to progress to dementia, compared with patients with a prevalent dysexecutive syndrome. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether early connectivity changes in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the precuneus (PCun)-which are critical to fronto-executive and visuospatial functions, respectively-can identify distinct cognitive phenotypes in cognitively intact newly diagnosed patients with PD.

Methods: Newly diagnosed, drug-naïve patients with PD (≤2 years from clinical onset) with normal Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), were consecutively enrolled from our Movement Disorders Clinics in Italy.

Mapping Motor Cortical Network Excitability and Connectivity Changes in De Novo Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Transcranial magnetic stimulation-electroencephalography (TMS-EEG) has demonstrated decreased excitability in the primary motor cortex (M1) and increased excitability in the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) in moderate-advanced Parkinson's disease (PD).

Objectives: The aim was to investigate whether these abnormalities are evident from the early stages of the disease, their behavioral correlates, and relationship to cortico-subcortical connections.

Methods: Twenty-eight early, drug-naive (de novo) PD patients and 28 healthy controls (HCs) underwent TMS-EEG to record TMS-evoked potentials (TEPs) from the primary motor cortex (M1) and the pre-SMA, kinematic recording of finger-tapping movements, and a 3T-MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan to obtain diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) reconstruction of white matter (WM) tracts connecting M1 to the ventral lateral anterior thalamic nucleus and pre-SMA to the anterior putamen.

The Role of Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia Functional Connectivity in Altered Voluntary Movement Execution in Essential Tremor.

Substantial evidence highlights the role of the cerebellum in the pathophysiology of tremor in essential tremor (ET), although its potential involvement in altered movement execution in this condition remains unclear. This study aims to explore potential correlations between the cerebellum and basal ganglia functional connectivity and voluntary movement execution abnormalities in ET, objectively assessed with kinematic techniques. A total of 20 patients diagnosed with ET and 18 healthy subjects were enrolled in this study.

Regional hippocampal atrophy reflects memory impairment in patients with early relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis.

Background: Research work has shown that hippocampal subfields are atrophic to varying extents in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. However, studies examining the functional implications of subfield-specific hippocampal damage in early MS are limited. We aim to gain insights into the relationship between hippocampal atrophy and memory function by investigating the correlation between global and regional hippocampal atrophy and memory performance in early MS patients.

MR-Neurography of the facial nerve in parotid tumors: intra-parotid nerve visualization and surgical correlation.

Purpose: One of the most severe complications in surgery of parotid tumors is facial palsy. Imaging of the intra-parotid facial nerve is challenging due to small dimensions. Our aim was to assess, in patients with parotid tumors, the ability of high-resolution 3D double-echo steady-state sequence with water excitation (DE3D-WE) (1) to visualize the extracranial facial nerve and its tracts, (2) to evaluate their relationship to the parotid lesion and (3) to compare MRI and surgical findings.

Quantification of Thalamic Atrophy in MS: From the Multicenter Italian Neuroimaging Network Initiative Data Set to Clinical Application.

Background And Purpose: Thalamic atrophy occurs from the earliest phases of MS; however, this measure is not included in clinical practice. Our purpose was to obtain a reliable segmentation of the thalamus in MS by comparing existing automatic methods cross-sectionally and longitudinally.

Materials And Methods: MR images of 141 patients with relapsing-remitting MS (mean age, 38 years; range, 19-58 years; 95 women) and 69 healthy controls (mean age, 36 years; range, 22-69 years; 47 women) were retrieved from the Italian Neuroimaging Network Initiative repository: T1WI, T2WI, and DWI at baseline and after 1 year (136 patients, 31 healthy controls).

Parietal resting-state EEG alpha source connectivity is associated with subcortical white matter lesions in HIV-positive people.

Objective: Parietal resting-state electroencephalographic (rsEEG) alpha (8-10 Hz) source connectivity is abnormal in HIV-positive persons. Here we tested whether this abnormality may be associated with subcortical white matter vascular lesions in the cerebral hemispheres.

Methods: Clinical, rsEEG, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) datasets in 38 HIV-positive persons and clinical and rsEEG datasets in 13 healthy controls were analyzed.

Neuroimaging markers of Alice in Wonderland syndrome in patients with migraine with aura.

Background: The Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS) is a transient neurological disturbance characterized by sensory distortions most frequently associated with migraine in adults. Some lines of evidence suggest that AIWS and migraine might share common pathophysiological mechanisms, therefore we set out to investigate the common and distinct neurophysiological alterations associated with these conditions in migraineurs.

Methods: We conducted a case-control study acquiring resting-state fMRI data from 12 migraine patients with AIWS, 12 patients with migraine with typical aura (MA) and 24 age-matched healthy controls (HC).

Relationship between default mode network and resting-state electroencephalographic alpha rhythms in cognitively unimpaired seniors and patients with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease.

Here we tested the hypothesis of a relationship between the cortical default mode network (DMN) structural integrity and the resting-state electroencephalographic (rsEEG) rhythms in patients with Alzheimer's disease with dementia (ADD). Clinical and instrumental datasets in 45 ADD patients and 40 normal elderly (Nold) persons originated from the PDWAVES Consortium (www.pdwaves.

Cortico-Subcortical White Matter Bundle Changes in Cervical Dystonia and Blepharospasm.

Dystonia is thought to be a network disorder due to abnormalities in the basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuit. We aimed to investigate the white matter (WM) microstructural damage of bundles connecting pre-defined subcortical and cortical regions in cervical dystonia (CD) and blepharospasm (BSP). Thirty-five patients (17 with CD and 18 with BSP) and 17 healthy subjects underwent MRI, including diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).

Parkinsonism Is Associated with Altered SMA-Basal Ganglia Structural and Functional Connectivity in Frontotemporal Degeneration.

Background: Patients with frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) often manifest parkinsonism, which likely results from cortical and subcortical degeneration of brain structures involved in motor control. We used a multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approach to investigate possible structural and/or functional alterations in FTD patients with and without parkinsonism (Park+ and Park-).

Methods: Thirty FTD patients (12 Park+, 18 Park-) and 30 healthy controls were enrolled and underwent 3T MRI scanning.

White and gray matter alterations in de novo PD patients: which matter most?

Objectives: This paper aimed to identify white matter (WM) and gray matter (GM) abnormalities in a sample of early PD patients, and their correlations with motor and non-motor symptom severity.

Methods: We enrolled 62 de novo PD patients and 31 healthy subjects. Disease severity and non-motor symptom burden were assessed by the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part III and the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale, respectively.

Incidence of intra-procedural complications according to the timing of endovascular treatment in ruptured intracranial aneurysms.

Background: Although endovascular treatment of ruptured intracranial aneurysms is well-established, some critical issues have not yet been clarified, such as the effects of timing on safety and effectiveness of the procedure. The aim of our study was to analyze the incidence of intra-procedural complications according to the timing of treatment, as they can affect morbidity and mortality.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively analyzed all patients who underwent endovascular treatment for ruptured intracranial aneurysms at three high flow center.

Methods for Brain Atrophy MR Quantification in Multiple Sclerosis: Application to the Multicenter INNI Dataset.

Background: Current therapeutic strategies in multiple sclerosis (MS) target neurodegeneration. However, the integration of atrophy measures into the clinical scenario is still an unmet need.

Purpose: To compare methods for whole-brain and gray matter (GM) atrophy measurements using the Italian Neuroimaging Network Initiative (INNI) dataset.

Structural Cerebellar Abnormalities and Parkinsonism in Patients with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome.

The phenotypic expression of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) is variable and may include cognitive, psychiatric, and neurological manifestations, e.

Resting-state functional MRI in multicenter studies on multiple sclerosis: a report on raw data quality and functional connectivity features from the Italian Neuroimaging Network Initiative.

The Italian Neuroimaging Network Initiative (INNI) is an expanding repository of brain MRI data from multiple sclerosis (MS) patients recruited at four Italian MRI research sites. We describe the raw data quality of resting-state functional MRI (RS-fMRI) time-series in INNI and the inter-site variability in functional connectivity (FC) features after unified automated data preprocessing. MRI datasets from 489 MS patients and 246 healthy control (HC) subjects were retrieved from the INNI database.

White matter alterations in drug-naïve children with Tourette syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Tourette syndrome (TS) and early-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are frequently associated and conceptualized as distinct phenotypes of a common disease spectrum. However, the nature of their relationship is still largely unknown on a pathophysiological level. In this study, early structural white matter (WM) changes investigated through diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were compared across four groups of drug-naïve children: TS-pure ( = 16), TS+OCD ( = 14), OCD ( = 10), and 11 age-matched controls.

Prediction of the information processing speed performance in multiple sclerosis using a machine learning approach in a large multicenter magnetic resonance imaging data set.

Many patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience information processing speed (IPS) deficits, and the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) has been recommended as a valid screening test. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has markedly improved the understanding of the mechanisms associated with cognitive deficits in MS. However, which structural MRI markers are the most closely related to cognitive performance is still unclear.

Multicenter data harmonization for regional brain atrophy and application in multiple sclerosis.

Background: In multiple sclerosis (MS), determination of regional brain atrophy is clinically relevant. However, analysis of large datasets is rare because of the increased variability in multicenter data.

Purpose: To compare different methods to correct for center effects.

Evaluation of Disability Progression in Multiple Sclerosis via Magnetic-Resonance-Based Deep Learning Techniques.

Short-term disability progression was predicted from a baseline evaluation in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) using their three-dimensional T1-weighted (3DT1) magnetic resonance images (MRI). One-hundred-and-eighty-one subjects diagnosed with MS underwent 3T-MRI and were followed up for two to six years at two sites, with disability progression defined according to the expanded-disability-status-scale (EDSS) increment at the follow-up. The patients’ 3DT1 images were bias-corrected, brain-extracted, registered onto MNI space, and divided into slices along coronal, sagittal, and axial projections.