Mapping structural brain alterations in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: Recent technical developments have made it feasible to comprehensively assess brain anatomy in psychiatric populations.

Objective: To describe the structural brain alterations detected in the magnetic resonance images of a large series of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) using imaging procedures that allow the evaluation of volume changes throughout the brain.

Design: Case-control study.

Delayed myelination in children with developmental delay detected by volumetric MRI.

Delayed acquisition of developmental motor and cognitive milestones is a common clinical expression of many etiological processes. Imaging exams of developmentally delayed children often show no structural brain alterations despite suspicion of brain maturation delay. MRI studies increasingly suggest that white matter myelination finely reflects the progression in functional brain maturation.

The lateral asymmetry of the human brain studied by volumetric magnetic resonance imaging.

Improvements in in vivo imaging methods have boosted research on brain asymmetry aimed at further establishing putative anatomical substrates for brain functional lateralization and particularly to explain left-hemisphere specialization for language. We analyzed volume asymmetries for major anatomical divisions of the lateral (perisylvian) brain region and their relative white matter content. A total of 100 healthy right-handed subjects were examined with 3D magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Anatomical variability of the anterior cingulate gyrus and basic dimensions of human personality.

This study focused on investigating a possible relationship between interindividual variability in the morphology of the cingulate gyrus and behavioral styles. Using magnetic resonance images obtained from 100 healthy young volunteers (50 women and 50 men), we measured the surface area of the anterior cingulate gyrus and related it to the scores on the Temperament and Character Inventory. Anatomical data revealed that hemispheric asymmetry in the anterior cingulate gyrus surface area was very common (83% of cases) and that a prominent right anterior cingulate was more frequent in women than in men.

CSF spaces of the Sylvian fissure region in severe melancholic depression.

The Sylvian fissure region gathers lateral frontotemporal cortices and subcortical structures that are frequently disturbed in patients with mood disorders. We have investigated possible CSF space changes in this brain region in severe melancholic depression. Fifty-seven patients and 37 control subjects received three-dimensional MRI.

The effect of medial frontal and posterior parietal demyelinating lesions on stroop interference.

Functional imaging has consistently shown that attention-related areas of medial frontal and posterior parietal cortices are active during the attentional conflict induced by color naming in the presence of distracting words (Stroop task). Such studies, however, have provided few details of the correlational nature between observed regional brain activations and reaction time delay occurring in this situation. We analyzed the effect of medial frontal and posterior parietal lesions on the Stroop response in a group of patients with multiple sclerosis, a neurological disorder in which Stroop response speed is affected to varying degrees.

Beck Depression Inventory factors related to demyelinating lesions of the left arcuate fasciculus region.

This study was conducted to further establish the significance of the previously reported association between depressive symptoms and demyelinating lesions in the region of the left arcuate fasciculus in multiple sclerosis patients. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was broken down into its main symptom categories on the basis of well-established factor analyses from the literature, and the correlation pattern between the resulting BDI subscores and lesion measurements was analyzed. We found that lesions of the left arcuate fasciculus region were selectively associated with BDI items expressing patients' Affective Symptoms and Somatic Complaints.

Brain cortical activation during guitar-induced hand dystonia studied by functional MRI.

Focal hand dystonia in musicians is a strongly task-related movement disorder. Typically, symptoms become apparent only when players execute specific overpracticed skilled exercises on their instrument. We therefore examined five guitarists with functional MRI during dystonic symptom provocation by means of an adapted guitar inside the magnet.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging study of frontal lobe activation during word generation in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: Functional imaging studies have demonstrated abnormal patterns of brain activity in obsessive-compulsive disorder, which consistently suggest the alteration of frontal lobe functioning. We performed a brain activation study in obsessive-compulsive disorder using a cognitive task involving the frontal lobes.

Methods: Twenty patients and 20 healthy control subjects were assessed with functional magnetic resonance imaging during a phonologically guided word generation task.

Cerebral lateralization of language in normal left-handed people studied by functional MRI.

Objective: To use functional MRI (fMRI) to further define the occurrence of left-hemisphere, bilateral, and right-hemisphere language in a normal left-handed population.

Methods: A total of 100 healthy volunteers, consisting of 50 left-handed subjects and a reference group of 50 right-handed subjects, were studied by fMRI of the frontal cortex during silent word generation.

Results: Ninety-six percent of right-handed subjects showed fMRI changes lateralized to the left hemisphere, whereas 4% showed a bilateral activation pattern.

The effect of repetitive magnetic stimulation on localized musculoskeletal pain.

Current magnetic coil stimulators can efficiently activate neural structures without deep electrode placement and the local discomfort associated with transcutaneous electrical stimulation used in pain control. We tested the possibility of reducing pain in patients with localized musculoskeletal processes by applying repetitive magnetic stimulation on the tender body region. Thirty patients were randomized to receive 40 min of real or sham magnetic stimulation.

Clinical application of functional magnetic resonance imaging in presurgical identification of the central sulcus.

Object: The authors sought to evaluate the advantages and limitations of functional magnetic resonance (fMR) imaging when it was used regularly in the clinical context to identify the central sulcus.

Methods: A 1.5-tesla MR system comprising a spoiled gradient recalled acquisition in the steady-state functional sequence and a cross-hand cancellation analysis method were used to evaluate 50 surgical candidates with centrally located space-occupying lesions in the brain.

Lesions in the left arcuate fasciculus region and depressive symptoms in multiple sclerosis.

Depression is a common mood disturbance in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Epidemiologic data suggest a causative relationship between depressive symptoms and cerebral demyelination, although a specific lesion site responsible for depressed mood has not been identified. Given that depression in neurologic disease is closely related to frontal and temporal lobe damage, we focused our study on investigating the extent to which lesions in the white matter connecting both cerebral lobes may account for depressive symptoms in MS.

Neurospectroscopic alterations and globus pallidus hyperintensity as related magnetic resonance markers of reversible hepatic encephalopathy.

In patients with chronic hepatic encephalopathy, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy can be used to detect specific metabolic abnormalities in the brain; MRI shows a hyperintense globus pallidus on T1-weighted sequences. We investigated the relationship between these two MR findings in a series of 25 patients with the use of quantitative data and a multiple regression analysis model. The cerebral increase in glutamine compounds and the decrease in myoinositol and choline correlated separately with globus pallidus hyperintensity, and each was complementary in accounting for this imaging finding.

Frontal lobe activation during word generation studied by functional MRI.

Aims: To further delimit the specific verbal operations occurring in the dorsolateral frontal cortex during the generation of words.

Methods: Different verbal fluency tasks guided by distinct specifications (phonological, semantic, or automatic production of words) were used in a functional magnetic resonance study. The study group comprised 10 right-handed normal subjects ranging in age from 23 to 27 years.

Presurgical identification of the primary sensorimotor cortex by functional magnetic resonance imaging.

The ability of functional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging to detect a selective sensorimotor cortex activation in healthy subjects and the feasibility of motor activation in patients with lesions around the central sulcus were investigated. Twenty-five healthy volunteers performed 100 motor activation trials, using a variety of motor tasks, which were monitored by several image analysis methods. The functional images were obtained using a 1.

Motion of the cerebellar tonsils in Chiari type I malformation studied by cine phase-contrast MRI.

We studied the effects on CSF dynamics at the foramen magnum and the clinical significance of the abnormal tonsillar motion in 14 patients with Chiari type I malformation and 14 control subjects using cine phase-contrast MRI. Dynamic MRI consisted of axial and sagittal cine phase-contrast sequences. CSF and tonsillar motion were qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated, and the subarachnoid space at the foramen magnum measured.