Prediction of extranodal extension in oropharyngeal cancer patients and carcinoma of unknown primary: value of metabolic tumor imaging with hybrid PET compared with MRI and CT.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the value of metabolic tumor imaging using hybrid PET for the preoperative detection of extranodal extension (ENE) in lymph node metastases of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC).

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of a consecutive cohort of patients with OPSCC treated with primary surgery with or without adjuvant (chemo-) radiotherapy at the Kantonsspital Sankt-Gallen and the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, from 2010 until 2019. Hybrid PET was compared to conventional cross-sectional imaging with MRI and CT.

Lesion follows function: video-oculography compared with MRI to diagnose internuclear ophthalmoplegia in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Background: Video-oculography (VOG) is used to quantify functional deficits in internuclear ophthalmoplegia (INO), whereas MRI can detect the corresponding structural lesions in the medial longitudinal fasciculus (MLF). This study investigates the diagnostic agreement of MRI compared to VOG measurements.

Methods: We prospectively compared structural MRI findings and functional VOG measures of 63 MS patients to assess their diagnostic agreement for INO.

7 T Musculoskeletal MRI: Fundamentals and Clinical Implementation.

This review summarizes the current state-of-the-art of musculoskeletal 7 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the associated technological challenges, and gives an overview of current and future clinical applications of 1 H-based 7 T MRI. The higher signal-to-noise ratio at 7 T is predominantly used for increased spatial resolution and thus the visualization of anatomical details or subtle lesions rather than to accelerate the sequences. For musculoskeletal MRI, turbo spin echo pulse sequences are particularly useful, but with altered relaxation times, B1 inhomogeneity, and increased artifacts at 7 T; specific absorption rate limitation issues quickly arise for turbo spin echo pulse sequences.

Quantitative Na-MRI of the intervertebral disk at 3 T.

Monitoring the tissue sodium content (TSC) in the intervertebral disk geometry noninvasively by MRI is a sensitive measure to estimate changes in the proteoglycan content of the intervertebral disk, which is a biomarker of degenerative disk disease (DDD) and of lumbar back pain (LBP). However, application of quantitative sodium concentration measurements in Na-MRI is highly challenging due to the lower in vivo concentrations and smaller gyromagnetic ratio, ultimately yielding much smaller signal relative to H-MRI. Moreover, imaging the intervertebral disk geometry imposes higher demands, mainly because the necessary RF volume coils produce highly inhomogeneous transmit field patterns.

SUV for predicting regional control in oropharyngeal cancer.

Purpose: To investigate the predictive value of pretherapeutic metabolic tumor imaging using 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) for regional response in oropharyngeal cancer patients undergoing primary (chemo)radiation.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of oropharyngeal cancer patients treated with primary (chemo)radiation at the University Hospital Zurich from 2010 to 2019 with available FDG-PET. The SUV of the largest lymph node metastases was recorded.