Radiotherapy in acromegaly: Long-term brain parenchymal and vascular magnetic resonance changes.

Background: Radiation therapy (RT) effectiveness on hormonal reduction is proven in acromegaly; however, collateral long-term effects are still undetermined. This transversal neuroimaging study on a large cohort of acromegalic patients aimed to investigate the rate of parenchymal and vascular changes after RT.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-six acromegalic patients underwent RT (RT+) after unsuccessful surgery and were compared to RT- acromegalic patients matched for age, gender, adenoma features, clinical and surgical history.

Basilar Artery Changes in Fabry Disease.

Background And Purpose: Dolichoectasia of the basilar artery is a characteristic finding of Fabry disease. However, its prevalence, severity, and course have been poorly studied. This study quantitatively evaluated, by MRA, a panel of basilar artery parameters in a large cohort of patients with Fabry disease.

Cell Therapy for Parkinson's Disease: A Translational Approach to Assess the Role of Local and Systemic Immunosuppression.

Neural transplantation is a promising therapeutic approach for neurodegenerative diseases; however, many patients receiving intracerebral fetal allografts exhibit signs of immunization to donor antigens that could compromise the graft. In this context, we intracerebrally transplanted mesencephalic pig xenografts into primates to identify a suitable strategy to enable long-term cell survival, maturation, and differentiation. Parkinsonian primates received WT or CTLA4-Ig transgenic porcine xenografts and different durations of peripheral immunosuppression to test whether systemic plus graft-mediated local immunosuppression might avoid rejection.

Pituitary morphovolumetric changes in Alström syndrome.

Purpose: Alström syndrome (AS) is a rare monogenic ciliopathy characterized by cone-code dystrophy, leading to early blindness, and obesity. Early endocrinological dysfunctions, especially growth hormone deficiency and hypogonadism, are detected in about half of AS patients. This MRI study investigates the presence of pituitary gland abnormalities in a large cohort of AS patients.

A Simplified Callosal Angle Measure Best Differentiates Idiopathic-Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus from Neurodegenerative Dementia.

Background: Idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) can resemble or occur in combination with other brain disorders frequently present in the elderly such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).

Objective: To study the accuracy of a simplified callosal angle measure in differentiating iNPH from DLB and AD using conventional brain MRI.

Methods: 76 patients (24 iNPH, 30 DLB, 22 AD) and 40 healthy controls served as discovering cohort.