In patients with intracranial steno-occlusive disease (SOD), the risk of hemodynamic stroke depends on the poststenotic vasodilatory reserve. Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) is a test for vasodilatory reserve. We tested for vasodilatory reserve by using PETCO2 as the stressor, and Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) MRI as a surrogate of blood flow. We correlate the CVR to the incidence of stroke after a 1-year follow-up in patients with symptomatic intracranial SOD.

In this retrospective study, 100 consecutive patients with symptomatic intracranial SOD that had undergone CVR testing were identified. CVR was measured as % BOLD MR signal intensity/mmHg PETCO2. All patients with normal CVR were treated with optimal medical therapy; those with abnormal CVR were offered revascularization where feasible. We determined the incidence of stroke at 1 year.

83 patients were included in the study. CVR was normal in 14 patients and impaired in 69 patients ipsilateral to the lesion. Of these, 53 underwent surgical revascularization. CVR and symptoms improved in 86% of the latter. The overall incidence of stroke was 4.8 % (4/83). All strokes occurred in patients with impaired CVR (4/69; 2/53 in the surgical group, all in the nonrevascularized hemisphere), and none in patients with normal CVR (0/14).

Our study confirms that CO2-BOLD MRI CVR can be used as a brain stress test for the assessment of cerebrovascular reserve. Impaired CVR is associated with a higher incidence of stroke and normal CVR despite significant stenosis is associated with a low risk for stroke.

Recent investigations now suggest that cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) is impaired in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and may underpin part of the disease’s neurovascular component. However, our understanding of the relationship between the magnitude of CVR, the speed of cerebrovascular response, and the progression of AD is still limited. This is especially true in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is recognized as an intermediate stage between normal aging and dementia. The purpose of this study was to investigate AD and MCI patients by mapping repeatable and accurate measures of cerebrovascular function, namely the magnitude and speed of cerebrovascular response (τ) to a vasoactive stimulus in key predilection sites for vascular dysfunction in AD.

Thirty-three subjects (age range: 52–83 years, 20 males) were prospectively recruited. CVR and τ were assessed using blood oxygen level-dependent MRI during a standardized carbon dioxide stimulus. Temporal and parietal cortical regions of interest (ROIs) were generated from anatomical images using the FreeSurfer image analysis suite.

Of 33 subjects recruited, 3 individuals were excluded, leaving 30 subjects for analysis, consisting of 6 individuals with early AD, 11 individuals with MCI, and 13 older healthy controls (HCs). τ was found to be significantly higher in the AD group compared to the HC group in both the temporal (p = 0.03) and parietal cortex (p = 0.01) following a one-way ANCOVA correcting for age and microangiopathy scoring and a Bonferroni post-hoc correction.

The study findings suggest that AD is associated with a slowing of the cerebrovascular response in the temporal and parietal cortices.

To determine if there is a correlation between cerebellar tonsillar descent in patients with and without Chiari I malformation and three skull morphometric measurements: clivus length, anteroposterior diameter of the foramen magnum, and Boogard's angle.

Cerebellar tonsillar descent, clivus length, anteroposterior diameter of the foramen magnum, and Boogard's angle were measured in mid-sagittal T1-weighted magnetic resonance images of 188 patients. The study included 81 patients with Chiari I malformations (CMI). Without identifiable pathology, 107 patients served as a comparison group. Two-sample t-tests were used to assess for significance. A Pearson correlation matrix was constructed to assess the strength of linear dependence between measured parameters for the study population.

A negative correlation was found between tonsillar herniation and clivus length (r = -0.30, P < 0.001), while a positive correlation was found between tonsillar herniation and foramen magnum size (r = 0.15, P = 0.0431), and Boogard's angle (r = 0.23, P = 0.0014). Clivus length was shorter (P = 0.0009) in CMI patients (4.02 cm ± 0.45) than comparison patients (4.23 cm ± 0.42). In addition, the anteroposterior diameter of the foramen magnum was wider (P = 0.0412) (3.74 cm ± 0.40 compared to 3.63 ± 0.30) and Boogard's angle was larger (P = 0.0079) (123.58 degrees ± 8.27 compared to 120.62 degrees ± 6.79) with CMI.

A greater degree of cerebellar tonsillar herniation is associated with a shorter clivus length, a wider anteroposterior diameter of foramen magnum, and a wider Boogard's angle.

Diffusion tensor MRI fiber tractography (DTT) is the first non-invasive in vivo technique for delineating specific white matter (WM) tracts. In cerebral neoplasm, DTT can be used to illustrate the relationship of the tumor with respect to adjacent WM trajectories.

Fiber tractography was used in this study to assess tumor-induced changes in WM trajectories in three cases of cerebral neoplasm: glioblastoma multiforme, meningioma, and anaplastic astrocytoma.

Three patterns of WM alteration were identified: 1) disruption, 2) displacement, and 3) infiltration. Tumor disruption of WM tracts was observed in glioblastoma multiforme, which terminated fibers crossing the corpus callosum. In meningioma, DTT illustrated bulk displacement of the corticospinal tract in the affected hemisphere as well as preservation of the deviated axons. In anaplastic astrocytoma, fiber tracking demonstrated disruption of WM tracts at the tumor origin as well as intact axons through areas of tumor infiltration.

Fiber tracking results correlated with the clinical and histopathological features of the tumor. Larger case series will be required to determine if fiber tracking can add accuracy to existing imaging methods for grading tumors.

To study different radiological signs and sequences including apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and gradient echo (GRE) to differentiate degenerative parkinsonian syndromes.

Multiple system atrophy (MSA), Parkinson's disease (PD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CbD) differ in the pattern of neurodegeneration and cellular damage. Measuring the ADC, GRE sequences for paramagnetic substances and simple anatomical assessments have been reported individually to assist in separating some of these disorders, but have not been compared.

brain MRIs from May 2002 to February 2008 were retrospectively evaluated by raters blinded to the clinical diagnosis for predefined MRI signs on T1, T2 and GRE sequences. ADC values were quantitatively measured. Medical records were objectively analyzed using standard clinical criteria for different parkinsonian syndromes.

195 cases comprising of 61 PD, 15 MSA-P, 7 MSA-C, 21 PSP, 6 Corticobasal syndrome, 21 not fitting criteria and 64 controls were evaluated. 73% of patients with MSA-P had hypointensity of the putamen (compared to the pallidum) on GRE. The specificity of this sign to diagnose MSA-P was 90% versus PD and 76% versus PSP. When GRE hypointensity was combined with atrophy of the putamen the specificity improved to 98% (versus PD) and 95% (versus PSP) without altering the sensitivity. The ADC values were significantly higher in the middle cerebellar peduncle in cases with MSA-C versus controls, PD and PSP (p<0.001).

The combination of hypointensity and atrophy of the putamen on GRE is useful in differentiating MSA-P from other parkinsonian syndromes.