Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping: Technical Considerations and Clinical Applications in Neuroimaging.

Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) is a novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique for quantifying the spatial distribution of magnetic susceptibility within an object or tissue. Recently, QSM has been widely used to study various dominant magnetic susceptibility sources in the brain, including iron and calcium. In addition, the method enables mapping of the cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen, which could act as a new metabolic biomarker for diseases that involve disruption of the brain's oxygen supply.

Regional Cerebral Blood Flow in the Posterior Cingulate and Precuneus and the Entorhinal Cortical Atrophy Score Differentiate Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Due to Alzheimer Disease.

Background And Purpose: Alzheimer disease is the most common degenerative dementia affecting humans and mild cognitive impairment is considered the forerunner of this devastating illness with variable progression. Differentiating between them has become all the more essential with the advent of disease-modifying medications. The aim of this study was to test the utility of the entorhinal cortical atrophy score in combination with quantitative CBF in the posterior cingulate and precuneus using arterial spin-labeling to differentiate mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer disease.

Neuroanatomical correlates of apathy and disinhibition in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia.

Neuroanatomical correlates of apathy and disinhibition, behavioral abnormalities in behavioral variant Frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) remain unclear. In this study 45 participants (25 bvFTD patients and 20 controls) provided data on clinical, neuropsychological, behavioral (on Frontal Systems Behavior (FrSBe) Scale), cortical volume (on voxel-based morphometry (VBM)) and tract based spatial fractional anisotropy ((FA) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), allowing examination of the neural correlates of apathy and disinhibition. The patients with bvFTD had predominant grey matter loss and corresponding white matter fractional anisotropy reduction in the frontal and temporal lobe compared to the controls.

Construction of Indian human brain atlas.

Context: A brain magnetic resonanace imaging (MRI) atlas plays an important role in many neuroimage analysis tasks as it provides an atlas with a standard coordinate system which is needed for spatial normalization of a brain MRI. Ideally, this atlas should be as near to the average brain of the population being studied as possible.

Aims: The aim of this study is to construct and validate the Indian brain MRI atlas of young Indian population and the corresponding structure probability maps.

Multimodality Neuroimaging in Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Cross-sectional Comparison Study.

Background And Purpose: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a focus of considerable research. The present study aimed to test the utility of a logistic regression-derived classifier, combining specific quantitative multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data for the early objective phenotyping of MCI in the clinic, over structural MRI data.

Methods: Thirty-three participants with cognitively stable amnestic MCI; 15 MCI converters to early Alzheimer's disease (AD; diseased controls) and 20 healthy controls underwent high-resolution T1-weighted volumetric MRI, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H MR spectroscopy).

Structural correlates of mild cognitive impairment: A clinicovolumetric study.

Context:: Annually 10-12% of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are likely to progress to Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The morphometric profile in stable non-converters has not been adequately characterized.

Aims: To determine the structural differences between amnestic MCI and early AD using volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and its correlation with neuropsychological test performances.

Reduced brain volumes in children of women with epilepsy: A neuropsychological and voxel based morphometric analysis in pre-adolescent children.

Background And Purpose: Children of Women with Epilepsy with antenatal exposure to antiepileptic drugs (CAED) have reduced neuropsychological functions. We aimed to explore the anatomical basis for this impairment by comparing the brain volumes of CAED with that of matched healthy children without antenatal AED exposure (COAED).

Materials And Methods: CAED aged 8-12 years were recruited from the Kerala Registry of epilepsy and pregnancy that prospectively follows up children of women with epilepsy and COAED from children attending the imaging department for minor illnesses.

Quantitative analysis of grey matter degeneration in FTD patients using fractal dimension analysis.

Fractal dimension (FD) is a quantitative parameter that can characterizes the complexity of human brain tissue. Extensive grey matter (GM) pathology has been previously identified in Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and its variants. The aim of the present study was to investigate the GM morphometric abnormalities in the behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD) and primary progressive aphasia (PPA) using FD analysis.

Assessment of Iron Deposition in the Brain in Frontotemporal Dementia and Its Correlation with Behavioral Traits.

Background And Purpose: Brain iron deposition has been implicated as a major culprit in the pathophysiology of neurodegeneration. However, the quantitative assessment of iron in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia and primary progressive aphasia brains has not been performed, to our knowledge. The aim of our study was to investigate the characteristic iron levels in the frontotemporal dementia subtypes using susceptibility-weighted imaging and report its association with behavioral profiles.

A Potential Biomarker in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Can Assessment of Brain Iron Deposition with SWI and Corticospinal Tract Degeneration with DTI Help?

Background And Purpose: Iron-mediated oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This study aimed to assess iron deposition qualitatively and quantitatively by using SWI and microstructural changes in the corticospinal tract by using DTI in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Materials And Methods: Seventeen patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and 15 age- and sex-matched controls underwent brain MR imaging with SWI and DTI.

A review of neuroimaging biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease.

Neuroimaging biomarkers have potential role in the early diagnosis as well as periodic follow-up of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Structural imaging biomarkers can be used to predict those who are at risk or in preclinical stages of AD. It could possibly be useful even in predicting the conversion of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) an early stage of AD to AD.