Value of Magnetic Resonance Cholangiopancreatography in Assessment of Nonanastomotic Biliary Strictures After Liver Transplantation.

Unlabelled: Nonanastomotic biliary strictures (NAS) remain a frequent complication after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). The aim of this study was to evaluate whether magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) could be used to detect NAS and to grade the severity of biliary strictures.

Methods: In total, 58 patients after OLT from 2 Dutch transplantation centers in whom endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography or percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography and MRCP were performed within less than 6 months apart were included in the study.

Descriptive analysis of the Boston criteria applied to a Dutch-type cerebral amyloid angiopathy population.

Background And Purpose: Validation of the Boston criteria for the in vivo diagnosis of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is challenging, because noninvasive diagnostic tests do not exist. Hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis-Dutch type is an accepted monogenetic model of CAA and diagnosis can be made with certainty based on DNA analysis. The aim of this study was to analyze and refine the existing Boston criteria in patients with hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis-Dutch type.

Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy: progression of MR abnormalities in prospective 7-year follow-up study.

Purpose: To prospectively investigate the patterns and rates of progression of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging abnormalities in a well-documented cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) cohort 7 years after baseline and to identify the prognostic factors that determine the rates and patterns of this progression.

Materials And Methods: The local ethics committee approved the study, and informed consent was obtained from all participants. From 12 unrelated families, 25 patients who were NOTCH3 mutation carriers and 13 who were non-mutation carriers were examined clinically and with standardized MR imaging at baseline and after 7 years.

Lacunar infarcts are the main correlate with cognitive dysfunction in CADASIL.

Background And Purpose: Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy is caused by mutations in the NOTCH3 gene and is clinically characterized by recurrent stroke and cognitive decline. Previous studies have shown an association between white matter hyperintensities on brain MRI and cognitive dysfunction in cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy. In the general population the presence of lacunar infarcts and microbleeds is also associated with cognitive dysfunction.

No influence of melatonin on cerebral blood flow in humans.

Melatonin has been attributed a role in a number of physiological processes. Changes in distal skin temperature and blood pressure after intake of melatonin suggest that melatonin induces peripheral vasodilation. The effect on the cerebral blood flow is still unknown.

Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy: MR imaging findings at different ages--3rd-6th decades.

Purpose: To depict various brain lesions that have been described in patients who have cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) with prospective standardized magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in patients of different age groups.

Materials And Methods: Forty patients with CADASIL in different age groups (20-30 years, n = 5; 31-40 years, n = 4; 41-50 years, n = 16; 51-60 years, n = 15) underwent transverse MR imaging with T1-weighted dual fast spin-echo, fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery, and T2*-weighted gradient-echo sequences. Images were analyzed by one neuroradiologist for the presence of areas of hyperintensity, lacunar infarcts, microbleeds, and subcortical lacunar lesions (SLLs) in different anatomic locations.

Cerebral hemodynamics and white matter hyperintensities in CADASIL.

Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a hereditary small-vessel disease caused by mutations in the NOTCH3 gene on chromosome 19. On magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), subcortical white matter hyperintensities and lacunar infarcts are visualized. It is unknown whether a decrease in cerebral blood flow or cerebrovascular reactivity is primarily responsible for the development of white matter hyperintensities and lacunar infarcts.

Evaluation of diagnostic NOTCH3 immunostaining in CADASIL.

CADASIL is caused by mutations in the NOTCH3 gene. Although increasingly recognized as a disease entity, the diagnostic confirmation can be lengthy or inconclusive. Recently, NOTCH3 immunostaining of skin biopsy specimens has been introduced as a new diagnostic test.

Incipient CADASIL.

Background: Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is caused by mutations in the NOTCH3 gene. Knowledge of disease expression in young adult NOTCH3 mutation carriers (MCs) is limited.

Objective: To characterize clinical, neuropsychological, and radiological status in NOTCH3 MCs younger than 35 years.

MR assessment of cerebral vascular response: a comparison of two methods.

Purpose: To compare the results and reproducibility of two MR-based methods of measuring the cerebrovascular response (CVR).

Materials And Methods: In eight volunteers, CVR was assessed with two MR-based methods upon a challenge with acetazolamide. CVR was assessed by measuring changes in total cerebral blood flow (TCBF) using phase contrast (PC) MRI, and by measuring perfusion MRI.

Subcortical lacunar lesions: an MR imaging finding in patients with cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy.

Purpose: To assess the prevalence and distribution of subcortical lacunar lesions (SLLs) in patients with cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL), to determine whether SLLs are an abnormal finding by studying their prevalence in healthy subjects, and to assess whether SLLs occur in other conditions associated with small vessel disease and white matter areas of high signal intensity (WMH).

Materials And Methods: The presence of SLLs, their location, and their relation to other abnormalities were assessed on magnetic resonance (MR) images (T1-weighted, T2-weighted, and fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery) obtained in 34 CADASIL patients and 20 healthy family members. Three additional control groups of healthy volunteers, elderly patients with vascular risk factors, and patients with another hereditary small vessel disease were also screened for the presence and location of SLLs.