Tensor-valued diffusion MRI of human acute stroke.

Purpose: Tensor-valued diffusion encoding can disentangle orientation dispersion and subvoxel anisotropy, potentially offering insight into microstructural changes after cerebral ischemia. The purpose was to evaluate tensor-valued diffusion MRI in human acute ischemic stroke, assess potential confounders from diffusion time dependencies, and compare to Monte Carlo diffusion simulations of axon beading.

Methods: Linear (LTE) and spherical (STE) b-tensor encoding with inherently different effective diffusion times were acquired in 21 acute ischemic stroke patients between 3 and 57 h post-onset at 3 T in 2.

Inline dual-echo T2 quantification in brain using a fast mapping reconstruction technique.

T2 mapping from 2D proton density and T2-weighted images (PD-T2) using Bloch equation simulations can be time consuming and introduces a latency between image acquisition and T2 map production. A fast T2 mapping reconstruction method is investigated and compared with a previous modeling approach to reduce computation time and allow inline T2 maps on the MRI console. Brain PD-T2 images from five multiple sclerosis patients were used to compare T2 map reconstruction times between the new subtraction method and the Euclidean norm minimization technique.

Sodium Intensity Changes Differ Between Relaxation- and Density-Weighted MRI in Multiple Sclerosis.

The source of Tissue Sodium Concentration (TSC) increase in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) remains unclear, and could be attributed to altered intracellular sodium concentration or tissue microstructure. This paper investigates sodium in MS using three new MRI sequences. Three sodium scans were acquired at 4.

Quantification of lung water density with UTE Yarnball MRI.

Purpose: An efficient Yarnball ultrashort-TE k-space trajectory, in combination with an optimized pulse sequence design and automated image-processing approach, is proposed for fast and quantitative imaging of water density in the lung parenchyma.

Methods: Three-dimensional Yarnball k-space trajectories (TE = 0.07 ms) were designed at 3 T for breath-hold and free-breathing navigator acquisitions targeting the lung parenchyma (full torso spatial coverage) with minimal T and weighting.

Three-dimensional Yarnball k-space acquisition for accelerated MRI.

Purpose: To introduce an efficient sampling technique named Yarnball, which may serve as a direct alternative to 3D Cones.

Methods: Yarnball evolves through 3D k-space with increasing loop size, and the differential equations defining this flexible trajectory are presented in detail. The sampling efficiencies of Yarnball and 3D Cones were compared through point spread function analysis and simulated imaging (which highlights undersampling in the absence of other scanning effects).

Diffusion tensor imaging tractography reveals altered fornix in all diagnostic subtypes of multiple sclerosis.

Introduction: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has shown abnormalities of the fornix and other limbic white matter tracts in multiple sclerosis (MS), mainly focusing on relapsing-remitting MS.

Methods: The goal here was to evaluate the fornix, cingulum, and uncinate fasciculus with DTI tractography at 1.7 mm isotropic resolution in three MS subgroups (11 relapsing-remitting (RRMS), nine secondary progressive (SPMS), eight primary progressive (PPMS)) versus 11 controls, and assess correlations with cognitive and clinical scores.

Venous contribution to sodium MRI in the human brain.

Purpose: Sodium MRI shows great promise as a marker for cerebral metabolic dysfunction in stroke, brain tumor, and neurodegenerative pathologies. However, cerebral blood vessels, whose volume and function are perturbed in these pathologies, have elevated sodium concentrations relative to surrounding tissue. This study aims to assess whether this fluid compartment could bias measurements of tissue sodium using MRI.

Na MRI of human skeletal muscle using long inversion recovery pulses.

Na inversion recovery (IR) imaging allows for a weighting toward intracellular sodium in the human calf muscle and thus enables an improved analysis of pathophysiological changes of the muscular ion homeostasis. However, sodium signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is low, especially when using IR sequences. Na has a nuclear spin of 3/2 and therefore experiences a strong electrical quadrupolar interaction.

High resolution continuous arterial spin labeling of human cerebral perfusion using a separate neck tagging RF coil.

For standard clinical applications, ASL images are typically acquired with 4-8 mm thick slices and 3-4 mm in-plane resolution. However, in this paper we demonstrate that high-resolution continuous arterial spin labeling (CASL) perfusion images can be acquired in a clinically relevant scan time using current MRI technology. CASL was implemented with a separate neck coil for labeling the arterial blood on a 4.

Calculating potential error in sodium MRI with respect to the analysis of small objects.

Purpose: To facilitate correct interpretation of sodium MRI measurements, calculation of error with respect to rapid signal decay is introduced and combined with that of spatially correlated noise to assess volume-of-interest (VOI) Na signal measurement inaccuracies, particularly for small objects.

Methods: Noise and signal decay-related error calculations were verified using twisted projection imaging and a specially designed phantom with different sized spheres of constant elevated sodium concentration. As a demonstration, lesion signal measurement variation (5 multiple sclerosis participants) was compared with that predicted from calculation.

Residual quadrupole interaction in brain and its effect on quantitative sodium imaging.

Sodium MRI is particularly interesting given the key role that sodium ions play in cellular metabolism. To measure concentration, images must be free from contrast unrelated to sodium density. However, spin 3/2 NMR is complicated by more than rapid biexponential signal decay.

In vivo double quantum filtered sodium magnetic resonance imaging of human brain.

Purpose: Sodium signal from ordered environments can be selectively detected using a double-quantum magic angle (DQ-MA) sequence. This study presents the first DQ-MA sodium images of the human brain and evaluates the effect of preparation time (τ) on the signal.

Theory And Methods: Three phantoms of saline, agar gel, and xanthan gum were used to test the correct functioning of the DQ-MA sequence.

Sodium imaging of the human knee using soft inversion recovery fluid attenuation.

Sodium signal strength in MRI is low when compared with (1)H. Thus, image voxel volumes must be relatively large in order to produce a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The measurement of sodium in cartilage is hindered by conflation with signal from the adjacent fluid spaces.

Exploring and enhancing relaxation-based sodium MRI contrast.

Object: Sodium MRI is typically concerned with measuring tissue sodium concentration. This requires the minimization of relaxation weighting. However, (23)Na relaxation may itself be interesting to explore, given an underlying mechanism (i.

Evaluation of B0-inhomogeneity correction for triple-quantum-filtered sodium MRI of the human brain at 4.7 T.

Off-resonance can result in signal loss on triple-quantum-filtered (TQF) sodium images. Three correction methods have been proposed to mitigate this problem, but their effectiveness and necessity has not yet been evaluated for human brain. This evaluation is warranted given the doubling or quadrupling of scan length without the expected signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) benefit.

Triple-quantum-filtered sodium imaging of the human brain at 4.7 T.

The limited signal-to-noise ratio of triple-quantum-filtered MRI of sodium is a major hurdle for its application clinically. Although it has been shown that short 90° radiofrequency pulses in combination with sufficiently long repetition time for full T(1) recovery (labelled "standard" parameters) produce the maximum signal through the triple-quantum-filter, and in this work, simulation and images of agar phantoms and human brain demonstrate that the use of longer radiofrequency pulses and reduced repetition time (optimized parameters to accommodate more averages for a constant specific absorption rate, reducing noise variance for a given scan length) results in signal-to-noise ratio improvement (22 ± 5% in brain tissue of five healthy volunteers--images created in 11 min with nominal resolution of 8.4 mm isotropic).

Signal-to-noise optimization for sodium MRI of the human knee at 4.7 Tesla using steady state.

Sodium magnetic resonance imaging of knee cartilage is a possible diagnostic method for osteoarthritis, but low signal-to-noise ratio yields low spatial resolution images and long scan times. For a given scan time, a steady-state approach with reduced repetition time and increased averaging may improve signal-to-noise ratio and hence attainable resolution. However, repetition time reduction results in increased power deposition, which must be offset with increased radiofrequency pulse length and/or reduced flip angle to maintain an acceptable specific absorption rate.

Assessment of averaging spatially correlated noise for 3-D radial imaging.

Any measurement of signal intensity obtained from an image will be corrupted by noise. If the measurement is from one voxel, an error bound associated with noise can be assigned if the standard deviation of noise in the image is known. If voxels are averaged together within a region of interest (ROI) and the image noise is uncorrelated, the error bound associated with noise will be reduced in proportion to the square root of the number of voxels in the ROI.

Relationship between sodium intensity and perfusion deficits in acute ischemic stroke.

Purpose: To assess the relationship between sodium signal intensity changes and oligemia, measured with perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI), in ischemic stroke patients.

Materials And Methods: Nine ischemic stroke patients (55 ± 13 years), four with follow-up scans, underwent sodium and proton imaging 4-32 hours after symptom onset. Relative sodium intensity was calculated as the ratio of signal intensities in core (identified as hypertintense lesions on diffusion-weighted imaging [DWI]) or putative penumbra (PWI-DWI mismatch) to contralateral homologous regions.

Sodium imaging intensity increases with time after human ischemic stroke.

Objective: Establishing time of onset is important in acute stroke management. Current imaging modalities do not allow determination of stroke onset time. Although correlations between sodium magnetic resonance imaging signal intensity within ischemic lesions and time of onset have been shown in animal models, the relation to onset time has not been established in human stroke.

Advantage of sampling density weighted apodization over postacquisition filtering apodization for sodium MRI of the human brain.

For sodium imaging of the human brain, Gibbs' ringing can degrade image appearance and confound image analysis; k-space filtering is generally required. In this work, the signal to noise ratio (SNR) advantage of sampling density weighted apodization (SDWA) over uniform k-space sampling with postacquisition filtering apodization (UPFA) is quantified for sodium three-dimensional (3D) twisted projection imaging (TPI) of the human brain. A direct comparison was conducted with the creation of two TPI projection data sets (each with an equal number of projections of equal length): one generating uniform sampling density, and the other a "generalized Hamming" sampling density that conformed to 3D-TPI constraints for full k-space sampling.

Elevations of diffusion anisotropy are associated with hyper-acute stroke: a serial imaging study.

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies of human ischemic stroke within 24 h of symptom onset have reported variable findings of changes in diffusion anisotropy. Serial DTI within 24 h may clarify these heterogeneous results. We characterized longitudinal changes of diffusion anisotropy by analyzing discrete ischemic white matter (WM) and gray matter (GM) regions during the hyperacute (2.

Sodium imaging optimization under specific absorption rate constraint.

The concept of sodium imaging RF pulse parameter optimization for signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) under specific absorption rate (SAR) constraints is introduced. This optimization concept is unique to sodium imaging, as sodium exhibits ultrarapid T(2) relaxation in vivo, and involves minimizing echo time (TE). For 3D radial k-space acquisition, minimizing TE (and T(2) loss) requires minimizing the RF pulse length.

In vivo sodium magnetic resonance imaging of the human brain using soft inversion recovery fluid attenuation.

Sodium imaging with soft inversion recovery fluid attenuation, which may be advantageous for intracellular weighting, was demonstrated with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) suppression in five healthy volunteers at 4.7 T. Long rectangular inversion pulses reduce the average power deposition in an inversion recovery sequence, allowing repetition time to be shortened and more averages acquired for a given scan length.