Coexistence of a human tail and congenital dermal sinus associated with lumbosacral lipoma.

We present a female baby with a human tail associated with congenital dermal sinus (CDS) at the caudal site of the tail. Magnetic resonance (MR) images with constructive interference in steady-state (CISS) sequencing clearly demonstrated a lumbosacral lipoma of caudal type, contiguous with the dermal sinus tract and not with the human tail. At 3 months old, the tail was surgically removed.

Functional MRI study of brain activation alterations in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder after symptom improvement.

Dysfunction of the frontal-subcortical circuits has been the most common finding in the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and recent neuropsychological studies have shown cognitive impairments in OCD. To clarify the pathophysiology of OCD without the confounding effects of medication, we investigated the alterations of brain function in OCD patients and changes after clinical improvement due solely to behavior therapy. The participants were 11 outpatients with OCD and 19 normal controls.

MRI of glossopharyngeal neuralgia caused by neurovascular compression.

Objective: Glossopharyngeal neuralgia is rare but causes severe pain. We retrospectively evaluated preoperative MR images of patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia caused by neurovascular compression.

Conclusion: MRI may be beneficial in patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia and an offending compressing artery.

The development of a novel automated taste stimulus delivery system for fMRI studies on the human cortical segregation of taste.

fMRI indicated that the primary taste cortex is activated not only by taste but also by non-taste information from oral stimuli. Head movements caused by swallowing are very critical problem in fMRI and inherent difficulties to modulate taste stimuli in the mouth exist to elucidate functional segregation of human brain. We developed a novel automated taste stimulus delivery system for fMRI studies to segregate the pure taste area in the primary taste cortex in humans.

Performance evaluation of radiologists with artificial neural network for differential diagnosis of intra-axial cerebral tumors on MR images.

Background And Purpose: Previous studies have suggested that use of an artificial neural network (ANN) system is beneficial for radiological diagnosis. Our purposes in this study were to construct an ANN for the differential diagnosis of intra-axial cerebral tumors on MR images and to evaluate the effect of ANN outputs on radiologists' diagnostic performance.

Materials And Methods: We collected MR images of 126 patients with intra-axial cerebral tumors (58 high-grade gliomas, 37 low-grade gliomas, 19 metastatic tumors, and 12 malignant lymphomas).

Automated method for identification of patients with Alzheimer's disease based on three-dimensional MR images.

Rationale And Objectives: An automated method for identification of patients with cerebral atrophy due to Alzheimer's disease (AD) was developed based on three-dimensional (3D) T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images.

Materials And Methods: Our proposed method consisted of determination of atrophic image features and identification of AD patients. The atrophic image features included white matter and gray matter volumes, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volume, and cerebral cortical thickness determined based on a level set method.

Bursal cyst (bursitis) of the coccygeal region clinically mimics sacrococcygeal meningocele.

Case Report: Bursal cysts (bursitis) are attributed to repeated microtrauma of the connective tissue around the synovial joint and are rare in the coccygeal region.

Materials And Methods: A 10-year-old boy had a subcutaneous tumor at the midline of the buttock. He could not walk and slid himself in a seated position because of psychomotor retardation.

Cortical damage in Alzheimer's disease estimation in medial and lateral aspects of the cerebrum using an improved mapping method based on diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.

Rationale And Objectives: A method of estimating and mapping the cortical damage resulting from neurodegenerative diseases based on diffusion-weighted imaging was recently proposed. We improved on this method to visualize the cortical damage in Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the lateral and medial aspects of the cerebral hemispheres and to provide anatomic references.

Materials And Methods: Damage in the cerebral cortex was estimated based on diffusivity in the subcortical white matter according to a previously published method.

MR tractography based on directional diffusion function validation in somatotopic organization of the pyramidal tract.

Rationale And Objectives: Conventional tractography based on the "streamline" method only partially visualizes the pyramidal tract because of fiber crossing with other white matter tracts. Recently a new tractography method based on directional diffusion function (DDF) has been proposed. This method was reported to visualize the pyramidal tract to a larger extent than conventional techniques do.

Perfusion imaging of brain tumors using arterial spin-labeling: correlation with histopathologic vascular density.

Background And Purpose: We investigated the relationship between tumor blood-flow measurement based on perfusion imaging by arterial spin-labeling (ASL-PI) and histopathologic findings in brain tumors.

Materials And Methods: We used ASL-PI to examine 35 patients with brain tumors, including 11 gliomas, 9 meningiomas, 9 schwannomas, 1 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, 4 hemangioblastomas, and 1 metastatic brain tumor. As an index of tumor perfusion, the relative signal intensity (SI) of each tumor (%Signal intensity) was determined as a percentage of the maximal SI within the tumor per averaged SI within normal cerebral gray matter on ASL-PI.

Neurosurgical management of occult spinal dysraphism associated with OEIS complex.

Introduction: OEIS complex has been described as a combination of defects consisting of omphalocele (O), exstrophy of the cloaca (E), imperforate anus (I), and spinal defects (S). As the first three defects are life-threatening and treated on a priority basis, neurosurgical intervention for spinal defects is deferred until recuperation from abdominogenital repair. However, the best timing for neurosurgical operation has not been precisely described.

SPECT evaluation of cerebral blood flow during arm exercise in patients with subclavian steal.

Objectives: To explore the cerebral hemodynamics in subclavian steal syndrome, we examined the cerebral perfusion of seven patients with subclavian steal (one symptomatic and six asymptomatic) using single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) during resting, arm exercise, and acetazolamide-activated conditions.

Methods: The regional CBF (rCBF) was measured with SPECT under all conditions, and region of interest (ROI) analysis was performed using a three-dimensional stereotaxic ROI template (3DSRT). We evaluated the relationship between arm exercise-induced rCBF change and (1) presence of subclavian artery stenosis, (2) vertebral reverse flow severity, (3) presence of vertebro-basilar insufficiency (VBI) symptoms, and (4) cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) to acetazolamide.

Intraarterial therapy for acute ischemic stroke: investigation of prognostic factors.

Background: Intraarterial therapy (IAT) for acute cerebral infarction has been proven to be profitable. However, the criteria for the indications, the choice of the thrombolytic agents, and the use of adjunctive agents are controversial. We retrospectively analyzed the prognostic factors of IAT.

Quantitative perfusion imaging with pulsed arterial spin labeling: a phantom study.

Purpose: Pulsed arterial spin labeling (PASL) is a magnetic resonance (MR) method for measuring cerebral blood flow. Although several validation studies for PASL in animals and humans have been reported, no reports have detailed the fundamental study of PASL using a flow phantom. We compared the true and theoretical flow rates in a flow phantom to confirm the analytical validity of quantitative perfusion imaging with Q2TIPS sequence.

Cortical thickness difference across the central sulcus visualized in the presence of vasogenic edema.

Purpose: To confirm the cortical thickness difference across the central sulcus (CS) visualized in the presence of vasogenic edema on MRI.

Materials And Methods: T2-weighted images of 70 cerebral hemispheres showing vasogenic edema infiltrating into subcortical white matter around the CS were studied retrospectively. Two neuroradiologists measured the cortical thickness of the anterior and posterior banks of the CS, precentral sulci (PrCS), and postcentral sulci (PoCS).

Age-related alterations of the functional interactions within the basal ganglia and cerebellar motor loops in vivo.

Aging may alter the motor functions of the basal ganglia and cerebellum; however, no previous neuroimaging study has investigated the effect of aging on the functional connectivity of the motor loops involving these structures. Recently, using fMRI with a parametric approach and structural equation modeling (SEM), we demonstrated a significant functional interaction within the basal ganglia-thalamo-motor (BGTM) loop during self-initiated (SI) finger movement in young normal subjects, whereas cerebro-cerebellar (CC) loop was mainly involved during externally triggered (ET) movement. We applied this method to 12 normal aged subjects (53-72 years old) in order to study the effect of age on BGTM and CC loops.

Feasibility and limitation of constructive interference in steady-state (CISS) MR imaging in neonates with lumbosacral myeloschisis.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate three-dimensional Fourier transformation-constructive interference in steady-state (CISS) imaging as a preoperative anatomical evaluation of the relationship between the placode, spinal nerve roots, CSF space, and the myelomeningocele sac in neonates with lumbosacral myeloschisis.

Methods: Five consecutive patients with lumbosacral myeloschisis were included in this study. Magnetic resonance (MR) CISS, conventional T1-weighted (T1-W) and T2-weighted (T2-W) images were acquired on the day of birth to compare the anatomical findings with each sequence.

An intraorbital wooden foreign body: description of a case and a variety of CT appearances.

We present a case report in which a 4-year-old girl was involved in a fall that resulted in an injury of the right orbita. The girl kept a chopstick in her right hand that got into the right orbita due to this accident. Only a fraction remained in the orbita; the residual chopstick got lost.

A distinct subgroup of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy with CNS demyelination and a favorable response to immunotherapy.

To explore subclinical central nervous system (CNS) involvement in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), we recorded somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) and motor evoked potentials (MEPs) using transcranial magnetic stimulation, to measure central sensory conduction time (CSCT) and central motor conduction time (CMCT) and examined brain and spinal cord MRI in patients with probable CIDP based on the American Academy of Neurology AIDS Task Force criteria. Eighteen patients with probable CIDP (12 males and 6 females; mean age at examination+/-SD, 45.8+/-17.

Estimation of white matter connectivity based on a three-dimensional directional diffusion function in diffusion tensor MRI.

Diffusion tensor (DT) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides the directional information of local neuronal fibers, and has been used to estimate the neuroanatomical connectivity in the cerebral white matter. Several methods for white matter tractography have been developed based on DT-MRI. However, it has been difficult to estimate the white matter tract pathways in the fiber crossing and branching region because of the ambiguity of the principal eigenvector and/or low anisotropy due to the partial volume effect.

Mapping of subcortical white matter abnormality in Alzheimer's disease using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.

Rationale And Objectives: White matter (WM) abnormality in Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been less well characterized than cortical damage. We studied the spatial distribution of the subcortical WM abnormality using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI).

Materials And Methods: Twenty-one AD patients and seven healthy, elderly subjects were included.

MR imaging of human herpesvirus-6 encephalopathy after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in adults.

Background And Purpose: Human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6)-associated encephalopathy tends to develop in immunocompromised patients. Neurologic symptoms, such as disorientation, short-term memory loss, convulsion, coma, and hypopnea could occur, but they may be nonspecific. We retrospectively reviewed MR images of 6 adults with HHV-6-associated encephalopathy to study characteristic imaging findings that could be useful in making the diagnosis.

Cerebral white matter degeneration in frontotemporal dementia detected by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.

Rationale And Objective: Brain tissue damage in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) has never been systematically studied using diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). We studied FTD patients using DWI to determine whether microstructural changes in white matter can be detected in vivo.

Materials And Methods: Thirteen FTD patients and 15 aged healthy subjects were studied.

Persistent diffusion abnormalities in the brain stem of three children with mitochondrial diseases.

We report 2 children (patients 1 and 2) with Kearns-Sayre syndrome and 1 (patient 3) with Leigh syndrome, who underwent serial diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) studies for 2.8 (patient 1), 4.2 (patient 2), and 1.