MRA & Flow of Neurovascular Diseases

13:30         3416.     A Novel Technique of Cranial MR Angiography: Hybrid MRA

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Takao Kodama¹, Takanori Yano¹, Shozo Tamura¹, Yoshio Machida², Tokunori Kimura²

¹Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki, Japan; ²Toshiba Medical Systems, Otawara, Japan

We developed a new MRA sequence, hybrid MRA (HMRA), combining the contrast of time-of-flight (TOF) and flow-sensitive black blood (FSBB) by using the dual-echo data acquisition. The gradient moment nulling (GMN) and dephasing gradient was applied to obtain the first echo and the second echo, respectively. Original images of the HMRA were made by subtracting the second-echo images from the first-echo images. This sequence was more sensitive to slow flow than 3D TOF MRA and seemed to be a feasible technique or evaluating steno-occlusive vascular disease.

14:00         3417.     GRAPPA with a TWIST: Dynamic 4D CE MRA of the Cerebral Vasculature at Near Isotropic Resolution

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Jens Olaf Heidenreich¹, Martin Blaimer¹, Randall Kroeker, Gerhard Laub, Jeffrey L. Duerk¹, Jeffrey Sunshine¹, Mark Griswold¹

¹Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA

GRAPPA and TWIST were combined to a novel 4D dynamic high resolution contrast enhanced magnetic resonance angiography allowing for the first time to image the entire cerebral vasculature during a contrast bolus passage at near isotropic resolution. In 25 neurological patients this technique showed improved small vessel depiction over the current clinical standard TOF-MRA. It also delivered superior results in patients prone to motion and those with metal artifacts. The simplicity of data acquisition makes bolus timing unnecessary, readily shows all phases of anatomy from arteries through veins, and can strongly impact imaging of patient cerebral vasculature in daily practice.

14:30         3418.     Phase Contrast Flow Quantification of Carotico-Vertebral Blood Flow at 3.0T in Patients with Angiographically Normal Vessels

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Fatemeh Barkhordarian¹, Derek G. Lohan¹, Aparna Singhal¹, reza habibi¹, Abbas Nasiraei-Moghaddam¹, Roya Saleh¹, Pablo Villablanca¹, Paul J. Finn¹

¹UCLA, Los Angeles, USA

Precise quantification of cerebral blood volume flow with combined morphological and hemodynamic data has many potential applications in neurovascular imaging.We sought to evaluate the normal ranges of caroticovertebral blood flow in a large number of patients with normal MR Angiography using a high temporal resolution protocol at 3.0 Tesla,thus providing reference values for future access and suggest that there is considerable variability in ‘normal’ cerebral blood flow in the absence of strong relationship with patient age or gender.   

15:00         3419.     Using Vessel Encoded Arterial Spin Labeling Technique to Evaluate Cerebral Blood Flow Territories in Volunteers and Carotid Occlusion Patients

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WU Bing¹,², GUO Jia³, Wong Eric C.⁴, WANG Xiaoying¹,³, ZHANG Jue³, JIANG Xue-xiang¹, FANG Jing³

¹Peking University 1st Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China; ²Peking University , Beijing, People's Republic of China; ³Peking University, Beijing, People's Republic of China; ⁴University of California,

We present a new method, vessel encoded imaging(VEI), for evaluating the individual brain-feeding arteries of healthy volunteers and carotid occlusion patients quantitatively and qualitatively. VEI can measure elective cerebral blood flow (sCBF) mapping of the flow territories of the left and right internal carotid arteries and vertebrobasilar arteries, which could aid in the planning and staging of interventions such as carotid endarterectomy, stenting, or bypass.

13:30         3420.     Non-Contrast MR Angiography with Multiple Inversion Pulses: Separation of Arteries from Veins with Flexible Inversion Time

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Naoyuki Takei¹, Mitsuharu Miyoshi¹, Tetsuji Tsukamoto¹

¹GE Yokogawa Medical Systems.Ltd, Hino, Japan

Selective inversion recovery pulse (SIR) has been used for non-contrast agent MR angiography. However in-flow time is restricted to the inversion time (TI). Aim of our study is to enhance depiction of arteries with longer in-flow time over TI for background suppression. At first SlR is applied. After a waiting time, non-selective inversion pulse follows. The multiple inversion pulses offer a longer in-flow time. Separation of arteries from veins was successfully performed with TI=1300 to 2000 ms in volunteer scans. This method provides a longer in-flow time of arteries than the T1 value of vein and improved depiction of arteries.

14:00         3421.     Carotid Plaque Imaging with BLADE

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Masahiro Ida¹, Kennichi Motoyoshi¹, Hiroyuki Fukuyama¹, Hisashi Yoshizawa¹, Naoya Yorozu¹, Keiko Hino¹

¹Tokyo Metroplolitan Ebara Hospital, Oota-ku, Japan

BLADE-T2WI and T1WI are feasible for detecting not only atherosclerotic carotid plaque but also the neighboring

turbulent flow, which is a risk factor of the intimal injury. Multi-slice BLADE sequences are useful methods and the initial sequences of choice for screening of carotid plaque and its risk factor.BLADE dark blood (DB) sequences with cardiac gating are the best-preferred methods for precise evaluation of anatomical details and plaque contents. When multi-slice BLADE T2WI and T1WI show positive findings, single-slice BLADE-DB sequences with cardiac gating should be added to access carotid plaque precisely.

14:30         3422.     Assessment of Intracranial Aneurysm Thrombosis with Patient-Specific Computational Models Based on MRI Data

Vitaliy L. Rayz¹, Loic Boussel¹,², Joseph R. Leach¹, Gabriel Acevedo-Bolton¹, Randall T. Higashida³, Michael T. Lawton³, Alastair J. Martin³, William L. Young³, David Saloner,¹³

¹VA Medical Center, San Francisco, USA; ²Créatis-LRMN (LB, PCD),  UMR CNRS 5515, INSERM U630, Lyon, France; ³University of California San Francisco, USA

MR imaging and velocimetry were used to predict the flow in patients who had thrombus-free vessels, and then proceeded to develop intra-aneurysmal thrombus. High resolution, contrast-enhanced MRA images were used to obtain patient-specific lumenal geometries. Images obtained at baseline and at follow up studies were co-registered to determine regions of thrombus formation. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models were constructed using the baseline geometries and inlet conditions. Results indicate a strong similarity between the slow flow regions predicted in CFD simulations and the regions filled with thrombus in vivo. This study indicates computational models may offer guidance for cerebral aneurysms treatment.

15:00         3423.     Evaluation of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms with 3 Tesla 3D Time-Of-Flight MR Angiography : Comparison of 64-Channel Multidetector Row CT Angiography

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Yoshiyasu Hiratsuka¹, Hitoshi Miki¹, Keiichi Kikuchi¹, Ikuko Kiriyama¹, Teruhito Mochizuki¹, Shizue Takahashi², Ichiro Matsubara³, Kazuhiko Sadamoto³

¹Ehime University School of Medicine, Toon, Japan; ²Ehime National Hospital, Toon, Japan; ³Washo-kai Sadamoto Hospital, Matsuyama, Japan

The purpose of this study was to compare 3D time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography (3D TOF MRA) at 3 tesla (T) and 64-channnel multidetector row computed tomographic angiography (64-MDCTA) in the detection of angiographically proved unruptured intracranial aneurysms with a blind reader study.3 T 3D TOF MRA and 64-MDCTA are excellent examinations with high diagnostic accuracy for detection of unruptured intracranial aneurysms. These two modalities have the almost same ability for evaluation of intracranial aneurysms, and there is no significant difference. 3D TOF MRA is free from the risks concerning the use of contrast media or the exposure of x-ray, and widely applied for the screening examination of evaluation of intracranial aneurysms. From this results, with regard to the evaluation of intracranial aneurysms, improvement of diagnosis on 3 T TOF MRA will reduce the necessity for the additional CTA examination after MRA.

13:30         3424.     Can the Hemodynamic Geographical Factors Be the Cause of Concurrent Cavernous Malformation in the Cerebral Developmental Venous Anomaly? [Not Available]

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Yoo Jin Hong¹, Tae-Sub Chung², Kwon Duk Seo¹, Sang Hyun Suh², Kyung Yul Lee²

¹Yongdong Severance Hospital,Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; ²Yongdong Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Hemodynamic disturbance within the territory DVA by geographical factors may be a key factor in leading to cascade of events and subsequent development of a CM and 3.0 T high resolution MR units would be helpful to depict the find morphological detail of small vascular structures of DVA and CM and find such hemodynamic geographical factors.

14:00         3425.     Flow-Sensitive Black Blood Imaging for Evaluating Vascular Malformations

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Takao Kodama¹, Takanori Yano², Shozo Tamura¹, Yoshio Machida³, Tokunori Kimura³

¹Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki, Japan; ²Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki,, Miyazaki, Japan; ³Toshiba Medical Systems, Otawara, Japan

The Purpose of this study was to estimate the utility of the newly developed flow-sensitive black blood (FS-BB) sequence in the evaluation of the vascular malformations. On the FS-BB imaging, the vascular structures can be enhanced by applying the dephaging gradient to susceptibility-weighted imaging. All venous malformations were more clearly visualized on FS-BB than flow-insensitive black blood (FI-BB) images. On FS-BB images, all of arteries, niduses, veins, and hemorrhagic lesions appeared as �gblack�h structures in patients with arteriovenous malformation or dural arteriovenous fistula. FS-BB can be a feasible tool for evaluating vascular malformations.

14:30         3426.     Imaging the Cerebral Venous Sinuses’ Puls Curve by Ultrafast Dynamic BOLD MRI

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Jan-Hendrik Buhk¹,², Gunther Schütze¹, Kai Kallenberg¹, Gunther Helms¹, Jürgen Baudewig¹, Andreas Wellmer¹, Michael Knauth¹, Peter Dechent¹

¹University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

Fast and dynamic imaging of the cerebral venous sinuses’ puls curve could be a useful additional tool in clinical diagnostic imaging of diseases like cerebral sinus thrombosis. We present a pilot study to evaluate the possibilities of fast dynamic single-slice blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) imaging in displaying rhythmic signal changes in the cerebral venous sinuses. These findings highly correlate with reference techniques like phase contrast angiography (PCA) and duplex sonography, therefore the demonstration of an intracranial venous pulse curve is feasible.

15:00         3427.     Quantification of Cerebrovascular Reactivity by BOLD MRI and Correlation with Conventional Angiography in Patients with Moyamoya Disease

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Chris Heyn¹, Julien Poublanc¹, Jay S. Han², Danny M. Mandell¹, Jeff A. Stainsby³, Adrian P. Crawley¹, Karel G. terBrugge¹, Joseph A. Fisher², David J. Mikulis¹

¹Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, Canada; ²Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Canada; ³GE Healthcare, Toronto, Canada

Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a vasculopathy characterized by progressive narrowing of proximal circle of Willis vessels and the formation of secondary collaterals.  As the disease advances, adequate perfusion distal to vessel stenoses is lost when compensatory vasodilatation reaches a maximum.  Further increases in vascular resistance ultimately leads to tissue oligemia and possible ischemia.  Recently, we have developed a methodology for rapidly and accurately controlling end tidal PCO2 utilizing a CO2 rebreathing device.  Using this technique with blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) MRI, a quantitative map of cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR), defined as the change in MR signal per mmHg change in end tidal PCO2, can be generated for patients with MMD.  In the present work, we apply BOLD CVR to patients with MMD and correlate the quantitative high resolution maps with angiographic features found on conventional vessel angiography.  Reduction in mean CVR correlates well with the degree of MMD disease measured by modified Suzuki score or the presence of moya vessels and pial collaterals as visualized by conventional angiography.

Multiple Sclerosis: Disease Severity, Progression

13:30         3428.     The Relationship Between Brain NAWM and GM Damage is Localised to Specific Clinically Relevant Regions in Early PPMS

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Benedetta Bodini¹,², Zhaleh Khaleeli¹, Mara Cercignani¹,³, David H. Miller¹, Alan J. Thompson¹, Olga Ciccarelli¹

¹University College of London, London, UK; ²Sapienza, Università di Roma, Roma, Italy; ³Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy

We used tract based spatial statistics and voxel based morphometry to assess separately white and grey matter abnormalities in patients with early primary progressive MS to clarify in vivo the relationship between the pathological processes occurring in the two compartments. We found 11 areas of anatomical correspondence between white and grey matter damage; however, when investigating the presence of a quantitative correlation, this was only found in 4 clinically eloquent regions. In such regions, we found that grey and white matter damage contribute to disability independently from each other.

14:00         3429.     MRI Correlates of Hippocampal Demyelination in Multiple Sclerosis Brains

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Elizabeth Fisher¹, Ansi Chang¹, Kunio Nakamura¹, Richard A. Rudick¹, Bruce D. Trapp¹

¹Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Histopathologic studies have demonstrated extensive demyelination in hippocampus in MS brains, but MRI correlates have not been defined. To investigate whether hippocampal pathology can be detected using common MRI sequences, we compared imaging characteristics in normally myelinated (n=4) and severely demyelinated (n=5) hippocampi obtained from MS patients post-mortem. MRIs were acquired in situ, prior to tissue fixation. Mean T2, T1, and MTR contrast ratios were not different, but MTR histograms from demyelinated hippocampi were shifted downward. These data suggest that MTR histogram peak position may a marker of hippocampal pathology in MS patients.

14:30         3430.     Cognitive Dysfunction in Benign MS is Associated with Increased Severity of Corpus Callosum Damage

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Elisabetta Pagani¹, Sarlota Mesaros¹, Marco Rovaris¹, Domenico Caputo², Angelo Ghezzi³, Ruggero Capra⁴, Antonio Bertolotto⁵, Gianna Riccitelli¹, Vittorio Martinelli¹, Giancarlo Comi¹, Massimo Filippi¹

¹Scientific Institute and University Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; ²Scientific Institute Don Gnocchi, Milan, Italy; ³Ospedale di Gallarate, Gallarate, Italy; ⁴Spedali Civili, Brescia, Italy; ⁵O

In this study we wished to investigate the relationship between the cognitive profile of benign multiple sclerosis (BMS) patients and the extent of tissue damage in the corpus callosum (CC). A method, which enables us to track and investigate atrophy and tissue damage of the CC was used in 54 BMS patients and correlations with neuropsychological tests (NPT) exploring memory, attention and frontal lobe cognitive domains were investigated. We found that cognitive dysfunction is associated with an increased severity of CC damage, in terms of both discrete lesions and fiber bundle disruption.

15:00         3431.     Changes in Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability and Blood Volume During MS Lesion Development and Evolution

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Jeffrey Moses Njus¹, Xin Li¹,², Charles S. Springer¹,², Maria Taylor³, Tiana Greisel¹, Frank W. Telang², Patricia K. Coyle³, William D. Rooney¹,²

¹Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA; ²Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, USA; ³Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, USA

Brain ¹H₈O R₁ [&[ident] T₁^-1] data were collected from 12 healthy controls and 16 MS subjects at 4 T before and after gadolinium contrast reagent administration.  Normal appearing white and gray matter ROIs were selected and K^trans and mole fraction blood water (p_b) values were compared between control and MS groups.  These were monitored during the development and evolution of MS lesions.

13:30         3432.     Correlation of Regional Brain Tissue Loss and Disease Severity in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis: A VBM Study in a Large Patient Population

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Anna Prinster¹, Mario Quarantelli¹,², Roberta Lanzillo³, Carmine Mollica², Petronilla Salvatore², Giuseppe Orefice², Bruno Alfano¹, Vincenzo Brescia Morra², Arturo Brunetti,¹², Marco Salvatore²

¹National Research Council, Naples, Italy; ²University "Federico II", Naples, Italy; ³Hermitage Hospital IDC, Naples, Italy

Possible correlations between brain tissue loss and clinical severity were investigated using optimized VBM in 128 RR MS patients, showing a preferential correlation with EDSS of GM volume reduction in the primary motor cortex bilaterally, with an associated preferential right-sided tWM loss in subcortical regions stemming from the rolandic areas and following the pyramidal tract down to the brainsteam.

14:00         3433.     Susceptibility-Weighted MR Imaging of Vascular Distribution in White-Matter MS Lesions

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Jennifer Elizabeth Dixon¹, Emma C. Tallantyre¹, Paul S. Morgan¹, Matthew J. Brookes¹, Nikos Evangelou¹, Peter G. Morris¹

¹The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

The relationship between white-matter MS lesions and parenchymal blood vessels has been found to be predictive of treatment response, and is therefore of considerable clinical interest. Previous in vivo studies have been limited by the inability to view both the lesion and blood vessel on one MR image, resulting in the failure to determine their exact spatial relationship. In this study, we present susceptibility-weighted MR imaging at 7 Tesla as a technique for the identification of both lesions and blood vessels, aiding the study of the perivascular distribution of MS lesions.

14:30         3434.     DCE-MRI K^trans Mapping of MS Lesion Evolution in Individuals

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Jeffrey Moses Njus¹, Xin Li¹,², Charles S. Springer, Jr.¹,², Maria Taylor³, Frank W. Telang², Patricia K. Coyle³, William D. Rooney¹,²

¹Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA; ²Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, USA; ³Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, USA

Transient focal disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is the most pronounced cerebrovascular abnormality in multiple sclerosis (MS) brain tissue.  Though serial MRI studies involving gadolinium (Gd) contrast reagents have provided evidence that BBB permeability compromise is among the earliest expressions of MS pathology detectable by imaging techniques, quantitative BBB permeability changes throughout the course of lesion evolution have not be examined. In this study, we apply pharmacokinetic mapping techniques via dynamic-contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI as means of investigating quantitative BBB permeability heterogeneity changes in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) brain tissue throughout the different phases of lesion development.

15:00         3435.     Deep Gray Matter Atrophy as an MRI Metric of Physical and Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

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Antonio Gallo¹, Iordanis E. Evangelou¹, Vasiliki N. Ikonomidou¹, Robert L. Kane, Susan K. Stern¹, Joan M. Ohayon¹, Fredric Cantor¹, Henry McFarland¹, Francesca Bagnato¹

¹National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

We investigated the role of deep gray matter (dGM) atrophy in determining physical and cognitive impairment in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Twenty-four MS patients and 24 age-, gender- and education-matched healthy volunteers (HVs) underwent 3T MPRAGE, clinical and an extensive neuropsychological evaluation. dGM structures were segmented using the FreeSurfer software and volumes of both the thalamus (Th-vol) and basal ganglia (BG-vol) were obtained. Th-vol was significantly reduced in MS patients with respect to HVs, whereas differences in BG-vol did not reach statistical significance. Further analysis showed that atrophy of dGM structures correlated well with physical and several cognitive scores.

13:30         3436.     Correlating Iron with T2 Signal Intensity in Multiple Sclerosis Lesions Using Susceptibility Weighted Imaging

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E. Mark Haacke¹, Malek Makki¹, Yulin Ge², Megha Maheshwari¹, James Garbern¹, Omar Khan¹, Jiani Hu¹, Madesh Selvan¹, Latif Zahid¹

¹Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA; ²New York University, New York, New York, USA

Susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) filtered phase data provides a means to monitor changes in iron content from hemosiderin. We used SWI to image multiple sclerosis lesions and compare them to those seen in T2 imaging. We find that the putative iron content associated with SWI phase images correlates negatively with T2 hyperintensities in multiple sclerosis lesions.

14:00         3437.     Automated System for Temporal Tracking of Multiple Sclerosis Lesions

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Michel Bilello¹, Chamith S. Rajapakse¹, Neerav Mehta¹, Ragini Verma¹, Elias R. Melhem¹

¹University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

Interpretation of MRI scans of multiple sclerosis patients can be a very challenging task for the neuroradiologist due to changes in size, shape and position of the lesions. Manual tracking of temporal evolution of lesions is time and labor intensive and prone to inter-rater variability. Some of these limitations and challenges can be overcome by using a standardized automated system presented here. The accuracy and robustness of the predictions given by the automated system was validated with data made available by collaborative MS studies and those generated by a modified protocol.

14:30         3438.     Multiparametric MR Analysis of Temporal Evolution of Abnormality in MS

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Nematollah Batmanghelich¹, Xiaoying Wu¹, Christos Davatzikos¹, Clyde E. Markowitz¹, Ragini Verma¹

¹University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

Various modalities, have been used individually to quantify damage in the normal appearing brain tissue(NABT); however, few studies combine these modalities to derive better information about tissue abnormality, with most methods concentrating on lesion segmentation rather than tissue abnormality characterization. We combine several MR modalities into a probabilistic pattern classification method to determine a voxel-wise probabilistic tissue abnormality score. This score can then been correlated with clinical and cognitive scores to study temporal WM changes. This method is applicable to studying treatment effects and can help physicians determine the extent of abnormality beyond the conventional visual symptoms like lesions.

15:00         3439.     A Voxel-Wise Random Field Theory-Based Magnetization Transfer Approach for Detecting Focal Demyelination and Remyelination in Multiple Sclerosis

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Michael G. Dwyer¹, Milena Stosic¹, Sara Hussein¹, Arpad Kelemen¹, David Wack¹, Robert Zivadinov¹

¹State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA

Magentization transfer imaging (MTI) may provide a means for detecting demyelination and remyelination in-vivo in patients with multiple scelrosis.  We demonstrate a sensitive and statistically sound technique for identifying and quantifying areas of focal magentization transfer ratio (MTR) via longitudinal MTI.  This method is based on random field theory (RFT), and may have significant sensitivity and specificity advantages over whole-brain, region-of-interest, or purely voxel-wise approaches.

13:30         3440.     Voxel Based DTI Analysis Predicts Suggestive of MS Track in Clinically Isolated Syndrome Patients

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Yasheng Chen¹, Valerie Jewells¹, Silva Markovic-Plese¹, Hongtu Zhu¹, Diane Armao¹, Hongyu An¹, Elizabeth Bullitt¹, Weili Lin¹

¹The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

Patients presenting as clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) were imaged using DTI and were clinically evaluated ~2yrs after the initial DTI scans.  Based on the clinical status, patients were divided into two groups: suggestive of multiple sclerosis (CIS-MS) and not suggestive of MS (CIS-NMS).  Voxel-based analysis of the baseline DTI revealed that CIS-MS patients demonstrated significantly more severe sub-cortical abnormalities when compared with CIS-NMS patients.  Thus, our findings strongly supported that DTI may be a powerful imaging marker to predict CIS patients who may evolve into MS in future, allowing potentially early therapeutic intervention to reverse/retard the disease processes.

14:00         3441.     Structural MRI Correlates of Benign Multiple Sclerosis. A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study of Regional Grey Matter Atrophy

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Elisabetta Pagani¹, Sarlota Mesaros¹, Marco Rovaris¹, Domenico Caputo², Mauro Zaffaroni³, Ruggero Capra⁴, Antonio Bertolotto⁵, Vittorio Martinelli¹, Giancarlo Comi¹, Massimo Filippi¹

¹Scientific Institute and University Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; ²Scientific Institute Don Gnocchi, Milan, Italy; ³Ospedale di Gallarate, Gallarate, Italy; ⁴Spedali Civili, Brescia, Italy; ⁵O

We used voxel-based morphometry to assess regional grey matter (GM) atrophy changes in 60 patients with benign mulitple sclerosis (BMS), 35 with secondary progressive (SP) MS and 21 controls. Compared to controls, SPMS patients showed a pattern of widespread GM atrophy, while BMS had reduced GM volume in the subcortical and frontoparietal regions. In comparison with BMS patients, those with SPMS had significant GM loss in the both cerebellar hemispheres, as well as in the right nucleus dentatus. Cerebellar atrophy seems to be a major determinant of irreversible locomotor disability in MS.

14:30         3442.     Segmentation of 3T Diffusion Tensor Images with Multiple Sclerosis Lesions

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Mustafa Okan Irfanoglu¹, Steffen Sammet¹, Regina Maria Koch¹, Raghu Machiraju¹, Michael V. Knopp¹

¹The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

Diffusion Tensor Imaging has a significant use in early diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The traditional methods of MS lesion detection are based on building statistical distributions of white matter fractional anisotropy (FA) and diffusivity (ADC) of healthy regions and trying to detect deviations from these distributions. In this study, we propose a novel method for segmenting diffusion tensors, which makes use of the entire tensor information instead of derived scalar fields and use this segmentation approach to detect candidate MS lesions.

15:00         3443.     High-Resolution in Vivo Imaging of Cortical Lesions in Multiple Sclerosis: A Comparison of 3T and 7T

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Jennifer Elizabeth Dixon¹, Paul S. Morgan¹, Emma C. Tallantyre¹, Matthew J. Brookes¹, Nikos Evangelou¹, Peter G. Morris¹

¹The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

Post-mortem MS studies have shown significant demyelination of the deep and cortical grey matter (GM), but in vivo study is made difficult due to the insensitivity of MRI to this type of lesion. The spatial resolution and contrast mechanisms available at 7T appears to be advantageous in the detection and delineation of these lesions, suggesting that it will be a useful tool in the study of cortical pathology.

13:30         3444.     3T Sodium MRI of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

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Guillaume Madelin¹, Niels Oesingmann², Sonia Nielles-Vallespin³, Joseph Herbert¹, Glyn Johnson¹, Matilde Inglese¹

¹New York University, New York, New York, USA; ²Siemens Medical Solutions, New York, New York, USA; ³AG Siemens Medical Solutions, Erlangen, Germany

Axonal degeneration occurs from the onset of multiple sclerosis (MS) and it is thought to be a significant cause of disability. Several studies have shown that the accumulation of sodium in the axons can promote degeneration. Sodium MRI provides an indicator of cellular and metabolic integrity and has been applied to the study of patients with brain tumors and stroke. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of performing sodium MRI of the brain in patients with MS and to report preliminary results of the changes of tissue sodium concentration in MRI-visible lesions and normal-appearing white matter.

14:00         3445.     Definition and Classification of Registration Artifact (“Yin Yang” Artifact) on MR Subtraction Imaging in Multiple Sclerosis (MS): A Pilot Study

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Yang Duan¹,², Mehu P. Sampat¹, Peter G. Hildenbrand¹, David F. Tate¹, Yi Tang¹, Annika M. Berger¹, Dominik S. Meier¹, Charles R.G. Guttmann R.G Guttmann¹

¹Brigham and Women’s Hospital Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; ²The First Hospital, China Medical School, Shenyang, People's Republic of China

We analyzed YYA based on the underlying registration mechanism, to facilitate in understanding of the their causes and accuracy in interpreting lesion progressions on subtraction images. Dual echo PD/T2 weighted MR images were acquired, co-registered, intensity normalized and subtracted. YYA is a counterpoised increase and decrease of signal changes around lesions on subtraction images. YYA was identified and classified into four subtypes by radiologists according to mis-registration orientation, corresponding to patients’ movement on right-left (I), anterior-posterior (II), cranial-caudal (III) and combined shifting dimension (IV) respectively. Type III and IV occurred more frequent than type II and I. 

14:30         3446.     Coarseness of MRI Texture in Acute Lesions Relates to Subsequent Recovery Activity in Multiple Sclerosis

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Yunyan Zhang¹, Hongmei Zhu², Joseph Ross Mitchell¹, Luanne M. Metz¹

¹University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada; ²York University, Toronto, Canada

Texture property in new multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions were quantified on 1.5T T2-weighted MRI 2 months before and 8 months after the appearance of gadolinium-enhancement using the multiscale polar Stockwell transform (PST). Seven/12 lesions were persisting (T2 hyperintensity) and 5/12 were invisible (no hyperintensity) 8 months post-enhancement. Significantly higher coarse texture (low frequency) was observed in the persisting lesions than that in the invisible lesions in the pre-lesional NAWM, during acute phase, and at chronic phase (P<0.05). This preliminary study indicates that the PST analysis may be useful in predicting lesion recovery on conventional T2-weighted MRI in MS.

15:00         3447.     Betainterferon Treatment: Absolute Quantification of White Matter Metabolites in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

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Olof Dahlqvist Leinhard¹,², Jacek Jaworski¹, Maria Gustavsson¹, Anders Tisell¹, Dominique Gladigau¹, Anne-Marie Landtblom¹, Peter Lundberg¹

¹University of Linkoping, Linkoping, Sweden

Multiple sclerosis can be treated with immunomodulatory drugs that can decrease the number and severity of bouts and also slower disability-progress. The mechanism, however is not fully understood. In order to improve the assessment of changes in the brain metabolome using MRS, a method was developed that allows for absolute quantification of metabolites as NAA, Cho, myo-Ins, Cr, Lac, Glc etc. Proton-MRS spectroscopy was performed before and after more than two years of betainterferon treatment. We report a decrease of NAA, as a marker of neuronal status and an increase of myo-Inositol due to degradation in these treated patients.

Prion Disease & Neurodegenerative Disorders

13:30         3448.     Cytoarchitecture of Frontal Cerebral Cortex in Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: Post Mortem MR Microscopy at 9.4 Tesla

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Harpreet Hyare¹,², Po-Wah So², John S. Thornton¹, Caroline Powell¹, Harry Parkes¹, Durrenajaf Siddique¹, Steve Wroe¹, Sebastian Brandner¹, Tarek Yousry¹

¹Institute of Neurology, London, UK; ²MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London, London, UK

Ex vivo MRM at 9.4T can depict pathology characteristic of vCJD by demonstrating apparent loss of the normal intracortical laminations.  These observations will be increasingly relevant as high-field MRI systems with improved spatial resolution enter clinical practice, when in vivo assessment of the cerebral cortex may prove highly beneficial in the diagnosis and monitoring of vCJD

14:00         3449.     The Pulvinar Sign in Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: Quantitative Diffusion-Weighted Imaging in Vivo at 1.5T and Ex Vivo at 9.4T with Histopathological Correlation

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Harpreet Hyare¹,², John S. Thornton¹, Durrenajaf Siddique¹, Laura Mancini¹, Jager Rolf¹, Steve Wroe¹, Caroline Powell¹, Sebastian Brandner¹, Po-Wah So², Tarek Yousry¹

¹Institute of Neurology, London, UK; ²MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London, London, UK

Despite the hyperintensity seen on DWI, in vivo pulvinar ADCs were increased in vCJD compared with controls, suggesting that this pulvinar hyperintensity is a T2 effect, while histological analysis demonstrated that gliosis in the pulvinar is likely to be the pathological substrate.  Correlations between ex vivo FA and histopathological scores were negative for spongiosis and positive for gliosis, suggesting the latter may reinforce the directional organization of the neuropil. Future studies will determine the value of in vivo DTI metrics as pathologically specific indices of disease severity in vCJD.

14:30         3450.     Influence of B Factor on ADC Sensitivity in Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

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Hedok Lee¹, Andrew Degnan¹, Chen Hoffmann², Peter Barbara Kingsley³,⁴, Isak Prohovnik¹

¹Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA; ²Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Israel; ³North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, USA; ⁴New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA

In this first rigorous test of the influence of b factor (1000 Vs 2000 s/mm^2) on the sensitivity of DWI to detect Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, we scanned 13 CJD patients and 15 healthy relatives at both b levels, computed ADC, and quantitatively compared the results both in voxel-level (SPM5) and VOI (FSL) analyses.  The b=2000 data showed greater ADC reductions in patients compared to controls, and larger areas of statistically significant ADC reductions, especially in the thalamus and caudate nucleus.  The findings demonstrate that MRI can be more sensitive to reduced diffusivity in basal ganglia at b=2000 than at b=1000.

15:00         3451.     Global and Tissue-Specific Cerebral Magnetisation Transfer Ratios in Inherited Prion Disease: Correlation with Disease Severity

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Durrenajaf Siddique¹,², S Wroe¹,², H Hyare², T Webb¹,², R Macfarlane¹,², J Collinge¹,², S Walker³, T Yousry⁴, JS Thornton⁴

¹National Prion Clinic, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK; ²Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, UK; ³Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit, London, UK; ⁴Lysholm Depar

Inherited prion diseases (IPD) are progressive neurodegenerative disorders, conventional MR neuroimaging often being unremarkable. Global and tissue-specific cerebral magnetisation transfer ratios (MTRs) were investigated in twenty-three patients, using MTR and conventional imaging. Whole-brain, white and grey matter histogram mean, peak height, peak location, and MTR at the 25th, 50th and 75th percentile were calculated, and  patients evaluated using videoed and non-videoed neurological rating scales. Significant (p<0.01) bivariate Spearman rank correlations were found between multiple histogram parameters and clinical scores, with a single pathological conventional MR. MTR histogram measures may provide valuable indices of IPD disease severity for future therapeutic trials.

13:30         3452.     Postmortem Magnetisation Transfer Ratio in Human Prion Diseases at 1.5T and Histopathological Correlation at 9.4T

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Durrenajaf Siddique¹, Harpreet Hyare¹, Steve Wroe¹, John Collinge¹, Caroline Powell¹, Sebastian Brandner¹, Po-Wah So², Tarek Yousry¹, John S. Thornton¹

¹Institute of Neurology, London, UK; ²MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London, London, UK

We have shown for the first time that, ex vivo, MTR is lower in cortical and deep grey matter, but not white matter, in patients with prion disease compared to controls, presumably reflecting an increase in the fraction of free-to-bound water. In targeted high-resolution MTR measurements we have also shown that cortical MTR correlated negatively with increasing spongiosis, a histopathological feature unique to prion disease.  The major advantage of post mortem quantitative MRI is the possibility of direct comparison with histology; our results suggest that MTR may provide a useful in vivo surrogate marker for pathology in human prion disease.

14:00         3453.     Abnormal Connectivity Pattern of Fronto-Striatal-Thalamic Circuits of Patients with Tourette Syndrome Based on Probabilistic Tractography

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Rajkumar Munian Govindan¹, Malek Makki¹, Michael Behen¹, Harry T. Chugani¹

¹Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA

Volumetric and functional imaging studies of individuals with Tourette Syndrome (TS) have revealed regional abnormalities typically in structures comprising the fronto-striato-thalamic circuit.  However, few studies have evaluated connectivity between the components of this circuit.  With diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and probabilisitic tractography, it is now possible to evaluate white matter integrity.  We used DTI tractography to evaluate fronto-striatal and fronto-thalamic connectivity in children with TS as compared to age and gender matched healthy controls.  Results showed decreased connectivity in fronto-striatal and fronto-thalamic pathways of TS group, which provides further support for the involvement of the fronto-striato-thalamic circuit in TS.

14:30         3454.     Combined 31P and 1H-MRS Study on Brain Energy Metabolism in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP)

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Ulrich Pilatus¹, Maria Stamelou, Jörg Magerkurth¹, P Niklowitz, A Reuss, K M. Eggert, C Schade-Brittinger, W Oertel, Heiner Lanfermann¹, G U. Höglinger

¹Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany

Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) is a sporadic neurodegenerative disorder. In vivo MRS using either 31P  or 1H  nuclei disclosed significant metabolic differences between patients and age-matched normal controls. This study was aimed at exploiting the full potential of combined 31P and 1H MRS to thoroughly specify parameters for energy metabolism and neuronal damage.

No significant differences were detected for 1H detectable metabolites total creatine (tCr) and N-acetylaspartate (tNAA).  However, 31P MRS showed a significant decrease of inorganic phosphate (Pi), phosphocreatine (PCr), and ATP in the basal ganglia while in the occipital cortex only ATP was reduced. Lactate was never detected in controls but in approximately 20% of the patients. Calculation of ADP and the phosphorylation potential (PP) using standard equilibrium constant for creatine kinase  yielded no differences between patients and controls. This indicates that reduced mitochondrial activity is compensated by reduction of ATP and inorganic phosphate leaving the PP constant, which may account for the rather mild decrease in tNAA. The decrease of phosphometabolites like ATP and Pi should be a marker of the severity of the disease and potential effects of treatment.

15:00         3455.     Adults with Significant Childhood Lead Exposure Evaluated with Proton MR Spectroscopy

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Kim M. Cecil¹, Kim N. Dietrich², Mekibib Altaye¹, John C. Egelhoff¹, Stephanie D. Wessel², Bruce P. Lanphear¹

¹Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; ²University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

We hypothesized that adults with childhood lead exposure would demonstrate evidence of irreversibly altered neural metabolism. Participants (N=159) of a longitudinal birth cohort studying the effects of lead exposure completed a quantitative, short echo spectroscopy protocol evaluating seven brain regions. Higher mean childhood blood lead levels were associated with reduced metabolite concentrations upon adjusting for age at time of imaging and full scale intelligence quotient. Gray matter reductions of N-acetyl aspartate are consistent with the concept that sustained childhood lead exposure results an irreversible, pattern of injury consistent with an insult from childhood. White matter choline changes suggest an alteration to the myelin structure. These neural alterations may be responsible for the cognitive and behavioral changes attributed to lead exposure.

Pediatric Brain: DTI, Structural

13:30         3456.     Application of a Fast High Resolution Whole Brain MRI for Segmentation

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Ying Wu¹,², Dunkle Eugene¹, Andres Carrillo¹, Ann Ragin², Robert Edelman¹,²

¹Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, Evanston, Illinois, USA; ²Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA

MRI segmentation and visualization have gained increasing importance

 both in research and clinical applications.  The conventional MR sequence, FSPGR (or MP-RAGE), has been widely utilized in MR segmentation and in clinical fMRI because its contrast behavior is suitable for segmentation and this sequence can provide thin slice whole brain coverage.  In this investigation, we present a fast whole brain high resolution MR technique, EZ Step (EZ).  Images generated with the sub-milliliter isotropic EZ Step sequence have similar GM/WM contrast behavior as FSPGR.  Available automated segmentation utilities, such as FSL and Freesurfer, can be adapted for EZ.  Moreover, EZ has higher CNR than FSPGR in basal ganglia and other clinically significant regions of interest.EZ can also be used to derive superior quality brain volume rendering for fMRI applications, while reducing data acquisition scan time of current clinical routines by 40%.

14:00         3457.     Regionally Specific Cortical Thinning in Paediatric Sickle Cell Disease [Not Available]

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Richard Alan Jones¹,², Gregory Kirk³, Michael Ryan Haynes⁴, Susan Palasis⁵, Clark Brown⁶

¹Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; ²Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; ³Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, USA; ⁴Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA; ⁵Ch

Cortical thickness was compared in control and sickle cell paediatric subjects using Freesurfer. The groups were split into two components by age; The first group consisted of all subjects< 12 years of age, and the second group all subjects >=12 years of age. Separate group analyses were performed on each of the two groups. In the younger group relatively few differences were found, while in the older group more extensive areas of bilateral thinning were found in the sickle cell subjects, suggesting that their gray matter is abnormal and that the amount of thinning is age dependent.

14:30         3458.     Treatment-Induced Plasticity in Central Motor Pathways in Cerebral Palsy: Diffusion Tensor Imaging

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Rakesh K. Gupta¹, Richa Trivedi¹, Vipul Shah, Mukesh Tripathi¹, Ram KS Rathore², Manoj Kumar¹, Ponnada A. Narayana³

¹Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India; ²Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India; ³University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, USA

Serial diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed on eight pediatric patients with cerebral palsy (CP) at the time of diagnosis and after 6 months of botulinum treatment followed by intensive physiotherapy. Region of interests were placed on corticospinal tracts at the level of corona radiate (CR), posterior limb of internal capsule (PLIC), mid brain (MB), pons, and medulla in patients as well as controls. On 6 month follow-up significantly increased FA values were observed in CST at the level of CR, PLIC, and MB compared to baseline study. The observed increase in FA along with improved clinical motor score suggests plasticity of the central motor pathway following the combined therapy.

15:00         3459.     Correlation of Brain Diffusion Tensor Imaging Metrics with Cognitive Functions in Patients of Spina Bifida Cystica

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Manoj Kumar¹, Rakesh Kumar Gupta¹, Mazhar Husain², Sanjay Behari¹, Gyanendra K. Malik², S N. Kureel², Richa Trivedi¹, Ram Kishore Singh Rathore³

¹Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India; ²CSMM University, Lucknow, India; ³Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India

Neural tube defect during early pregnancy affects the normal brain development and leads to deficits in cognitive functions and memory. DTI and battery of neuropsychological test (NPT) were performed in 19 SBC patients and controls.  ROIs were placed in different region of the brain including deep gray matter [caudate nuclei (CN), thalamus (Th) and putamen (P)] and white matter corticospinal tracts (CST), and cingulum (Cing), fornix, genu and splenium (Spl) in SBC patients as well as controls. The spearman rank correlations between FA, MD and NPT scores were performed in patients and controls. Our observations demonstrated that significant correlation between FA and MD values with FCT score in genu of CC, and significant correlation between FA values in cingulum and NCT B scores which reflects the deficits in learning, memory and timing functions. The FA values in CST are correlated with PAT scores suggesting the deficits in sensory and motor functions.

13:30         3460.     Temporal Brain White Matter Maturation in Spina Bifida Cystica (SBC) with Diffusion Tensor Imaging

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Manoj Kumar¹, Rakesh K. Gupta¹, Richa Trivedi¹, Mazhar Husain², Sanjay Behari¹, Gyanendra K. Malik², S N. Kureel², Ram KS Rathore³, Ponnada A. Narayana⁴

¹Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India; ²Chhatrapati Sahuji Maharaj Medical University, India; ³Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India; ⁴University of Texas Medical Scho

DTI was performed in 23 SBC patients along with 33 age/sex matched controls. ROI were placed in corpus callosum [genu and splenium (Spl)], internal capsule [anterior limb of internal capsule (ALIC), posterior limb of internal capsule (PLIC)], periventricular WM [frontal white matter (FWM), occipital white matter (OWM)] and corticospinal tracts (CST) at the level of pons in SBC patient as well as controls. Different pattern of FA changes in major WM tracts in SBC patients compared to controls demonstrate that the pattern of brain WM in SBC is different from normal development. In SBC patient’s significant reorganization was observed at structural and functional levels during the development.

MRI: ENT Imaging

13:30         3461.     Average Arterial Input Function and Quantitative Dynamic Contrast Enhanced (DCE)-MRI of Nodal Metastases in the Neck

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Amita Shukla-Dave¹, Nancy Lee¹, Hilda Stambuk¹, Ya Wang¹, Wei Huang¹, Jason A. Koutcher¹

¹Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA

Nine patients with nodal metastases in the neck underwent dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) studies on a 1.5T clinical MRI scanner. Reliable Individual Arterial Input Function AIF (Ind-AIF) were obtained from all the patients and an average-AIF (Avg-AIF) was calculated. No statistical differences were seen in pharmacokinetic parameters obtained with Ind-Avg and Avg-AIF. The present study builds Avg-AIF in patients with nodal disease in the neck which may be useful in large patient population studies, e. g. in clinical trials to examine the effects of drugs on Ktrans and ve or in situations where Ind-AIF cannot be obtained.

14:00         3462.     Perfusion Characteristics of Radiation-Induced Parotitis: Quantitative Evaluation with Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI

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Hua-San Liu¹,², Chun-Jung Juan², Hsiao-Wen Chung¹, Cheng-Yu Chen², Yee-Min Jen², Chao-Ying Wang¹,², Chun-Jen Hsueh², Chung-Ping Lo², Guo-Shu Huang²

¹National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; ²Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

Radiation-induced parotid gland injury degrades the life quality of patients who ever receive radiotherapy for treating head and neck cancer. Conventional MR imaging of the irradiated parotid glands only shows intense parotid enhancement. Applying the non-linear least square curve fitting algorithm to the Brix pharmacokinetic model, the perfusion parameters of the irradiated parotid glands were quantified. The irradiated parotid glands showed significantly lower Kel (P < 0.0005), marginally lower k21 (P < 0.05) and unaltered A (P = 0.26) compared with non-irradiated ones, suggestive of gradual and prolonged accumulation and delayed wash-out of contrast agent in the irradiated glands rather than increased vascular permeability.

14:30         3463.     Comparison of Diagnostic Performance Between MRI Including Diffusion-Weighted Imaging and FDG-PET/CT in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer [Not Available]

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Yuji Nakamoto¹, Tomohisa Okada¹, Yasuyo Hamanaka², Kohei Hayashida², Kaori Togashi¹

¹Kyoto University Hospital, Kyoto, Japan; ²Takeda Oncologic Positron Imaging Center, Kyoto, Japan

We have compared the diagnostic performance of MRI including diffusion-weighted imaging and FDG-PET/CT in patients with head and neck cancer. For detecting primary tumors or metastatic cervical lymph nodes, the patient-based sensitivity and specificity of MRI were comparable with those of FDG-PET/CT.

15:00         3464.     Therapeutic Response Assessment Using Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MR Imaging in Patients with Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma: An Initial Study at 3T [Not Available]

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Jiachao Liang¹, Steffen Sammet¹, Xingyu Yang¹, Guang Jia¹, Zarine Shah¹, Regina Koch¹, Manisha Shah¹, Michael V. Knopp¹

¹The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

Therapy monitoring of differentiated thyroid carcinoma using DCE-MRI at 3T provides a capability for evaluating the biologic therapeutic responses by a clinically readily available approach.

13:30         3465.     Monitoring Response to Chemoradiation Therapy of Squamous Cell Carcinomas of the Head and Neck Using Diffusion Weighted MRI
[Not Available]

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Sungheon Kim¹, Laurie A. Loevner¹, Harry Quon¹, Eric J. Sherman¹, Gregory S. Weinstein¹, Harish Poptani¹

¹University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) for early detection of treatment response in squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (HNSCC). DW-MRI studies were performed with 32 patients before, during, and after the end of treatment. Pre-treatment ADC of complete responders (CR) was significantly lower than that of partial responders (PR). A significant increase in ADC was observed in the CR group within one week of treatment and remained high until the end of the treatment. These results suggest that ADC can be used as a predictive marker for therapeutic response in HNSCC.

14:00         3466.     Monitoring Therapeutic Effect of Cetuximab in the Treatment of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma by DCE-MRI

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Francis Kar Ho Lee¹, Brigitte Ma¹, David Ka Wai Yeung¹, Ann Dorothy King¹

¹the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China

Dynamic contrasted enhanced MRI is becoming a popular technique to evaluate the therapeutic effect of anti-angiogenic and anti-vascular drugs for the treatment of cancers. The potential of the technique to predict treatment outcome is attractive as it can provide valuable information for treatment planning. In this study, we attempted to use this technique to monitor the therapeutic effect of cetuximab, an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor, in the treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The effect of this drug in combination with chemotherapy for NPC has been published, while this report describes the preliminary attempt to examine the potential of the DCE technique in the early detection of drug response.

14:30         3467.     Serial MRI Study of Delayed Brain Injury Induced by Radiotherapy Treatment for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

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Yi Xiang Wang¹, H Zhou²,³, A D. King², J Abrigo², Y L. Chan², D K. Yeung²

¹The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital , Shatin, People's Republic of China; ²The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, People's Republic of China; ³First Affiliated Hos

Radiation induced injury (RI) of temporal lobe is a late complication of radiation therapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). This study investigates the temporal changes of RI in the temporal lobe with serial MRI. This is a retrospective study of 77 consecutive patients. These patients had known RI of the temporal lobes due to RT on MR with at least one further follow up MR for analysis. Our results demonstrated that the RI lesions can remain static, increasing, decreasing or resolve, but overall the RI appears to demonstrate an initial developing phase and later resolving phase.

15:00         3468.     High Resolution Non-Contrast Lymphangiography of the Head and Neck at 3Tesla

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Ravi Teja Seethamraju¹, Yiu Cho Chung², Jaeseok Park³, Graham C. Wiggins⁴, Mukesh G. Harisinghani⁵, Denise Hinton-Yates⁴

¹Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA; ²Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., Columbus, Ohio, USA; ³Siemens AG., Erlangen, Germany; ⁴Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Ima

A state of the art non-contrast T2 weighted TSE  3D sequence for Lymphangiography of the head and neck is presented here. This sequence can detect lymph nodes with 3D isotropic sub-millimeter resolution in a distinct manner. This is a major advantage over traditional 2D TSE methods where the through plane resolution is low thereby increasing the chance of missing small lymph nodes that are less than 5mm. Currently this method can distinctly show all nodes with high contrast immaterial of the nodal status. When combined with nano-particle enhanced contrast agents this techniques has the potential to be sensitive to metastasis.

13:30         3469.     Comparison of Duplex Sonography and High Resolution MRI [Not Available]

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Thorsten Alexander Bley¹,², Mathias Reinhard¹, Carolin Hauenstein¹, Michael Markl¹, Klaus Warnatz¹, Mathias Langer¹

¹University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; ²University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, USA

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a chronic vasculitis of large and medium sized arteries. Temporal atery bopsy (TAB) is considered the diagnostic gold standard. Noninvasive diagnosis of GCA is a challenge. The purpose of this study was to to compare the diagnostic performance of high resolution (196µm × 260µm) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and color coded duplex sonography (CCDS) in patients with GCA. Sensitivity of MRI (CCDS) compared with TAB was 83% (79%), specificity 71% (59%), NPV 80% (73%) and PPV 75% (67%). Larger trials are warranted to investigate the potential of noninvasive imaging to replace temporal artery biopsy.

14:00         3470.     Real Time Sleep MRI and Physiologic Monitoring of Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

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Andrew B. Holbrook¹,², Jose Barrera¹, Juan M. Santos¹, Kim Butts Pauly¹, Gerald Popelka¹

¹Stanford University, Stanford, California , USA

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a serious and dangerous disorder that could benefit from improved diagnosis with MRI.  In this study, ten patients with mild to severe OSA were imaged continuously in real-time in an interventional 0.5T magnet while also monitoring physiological conditions using a WatchPat WP100 OSA testing device.  Physiological data were registered to acquired images.  Imaging showed locations of airway obstructions, with physiologic data showing signs of possible respiratory events (changing pulse arterial tone amplitude, decreasing oxygen saturation).  Such results could be useful in improving patient diagnosis and resultant care.

MRI & MRS of Epilepsy

13:30         3471.     Distribution of Neurochemical Changes in Narcoleptic Patients with Cataplexy: A Proton MR Spectroscopy Study

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Caterina Tonon¹, Raffaele Lodi¹, Giuseppe Plazzi¹, Christian Franceschini¹, Claudia Testa¹, David Neil Manners¹, Pasquale Montagna¹, Bruno Barbiroli¹

¹University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

The pathophysiology of narcolepsy with cataplexy (NC), a rare underdiagnosed sleep disorder, is as yet only partially defined. Investigations using various neuroimaging techniques of brain structures suspected to be involved in sleep/awake regulation have given contradictory results. In the present study of 21 NC patients using 1H-MRS we demonstrated evidence of neuronal loss in the hypothalamus, while no significant biochemical changes were found in the thalamus and the parietal-occipital cortex. Advanced MR techniques may contribute to the clarification of the pathophysiological mechanisms of NC, and hence to the development of targeted pharmacological options. 

14:00         3472.     Hippocampal Neurotransmitter Imbalance and the Role of GS in Epileptogenesis; a Longitudinal in vivo MRS and Histochemical Study in a Juvenile Model of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

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Pieter van Eijsden¹, W Saskia van der Hel¹, Ineke W. M. Bos¹, Robin A. de Graaf², Kevin L. Behar², Onno van Nieuwenhuizen¹, Pierre N.E. de Graan¹, Kees P.J. Braun¹

¹University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands; ²Yale University, New Haven, USA

Epileptogenesis in temporal lobe epilepsy has been associated with a disturbance of hippocampal glutamatergic and GABAergic neurotransmission. To characterize this disturbance, we combined in vivo MRS with immunohistological methods at two time points during the latent phase of the juvenile lithium pilocarpine rat model. Reductions in NAA and increases in Cho indicate neuronal death and gliosis, which is confirmed by FJ and Vim staining. GABAergic neurons are most affected, leading to a hyperexcitable state. After an initial increase, glutamine normalizes, which is explained by reduced GS immunoreactivity. These findings represent relevant pre-epileptic changes, which serve as markers of imminent epilepsy.

14:30         3473.     Metabolic Connectivity in Controls and Epilepsy Patients

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Jullie Pan¹, Susan Spencer, Ruben I. Kuzniecky², Dennis Spencer¹, Hoby Hetherington¹

¹Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA; ²New York University, New York, New York, USA

The goal of this study was to evaluate the pattern and extent to which the correlated reductions in NAA from the hippocampus thalamus, putamen and insula define a unique network of impairment which can resolve mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) from neocortical epilepsy (NE). MRSI measurements of NAA were acquired from the hippocampus, thalamus, putamen and insula of controls (20), mTLE (27) and NE (18) patients. Significant differences in NAA distributions throughout these neuronal networks were  between controls and patients with epilepsy and mTLE and NE patients.

15:00         3474.     First Clinical Epilepsy Imaging at 7 Tesla

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Tobias Breyer¹, Jens M. Theysohn², Stefan Maderwald², Oliver Kraff², Marc Ladd², Friedrich Woermann³, Alois Ebner³, Marc U. Schlamann¹, Michael Forsting¹, Isabel Wanke¹

¹Essen University Hospital, Essen, Germany; ²University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; ³Bethel Epilepsy Center, Bielefeld, Germany

Even very subtle cortical lesions can cause severe epileptic syndromes. High magnetic field MR-imaging at 7 Tesla therefore promises better signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution for improved lesion depiction and subsequently selection of more possible treatment options for affected patients. We investigated -for the first time- patients with known epileptic lesions, either hippocampal sclerosis or focal cortical dysplasia- at 7 Tesla with spin-echo PD-/T2-, T1- as well as T2*-weighted sequences.

13:30         3475.     Mapping Hippocampal Activity During Epileptogenesis by Manganese Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MEMRI)

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Ke Fang¹, Stefanie Dedeurwaerdere¹, Yutang Shen¹, Terence J. O'Brien¹, Gary F. Egan¹

¹University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

This longitudinal study aims to characterise the progressive pathological changes in the hippocampus of the post-kainic acid status epilepticus (SE) rat model of temporal lobe epilepsy using MEMRI in vivo. .  A progressive increase in signal intensity was found in the hippocampus in the epileptic group compared to the control group , which indicated more neuronal activities in hippocampus in the epilepsy KA model. Early changes in the dentate gyrus also significantly correlated with seizure outcome at a later stage, which may have implications for predicting seizure phenotype.

14:00         3476.     Voxel Based Morphometry and Statistical Parametric Mapping of Positron Emission Tomography (SPM-PET) in Patients with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy Compared to Normal Controls [Not Available]

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Long Vu¹, Barbara Swartz², Mark Mandelkern¹, Orhan Nalcioglu¹, Min-Ying Su¹

¹University of California, Irvine, USA; ²Hoag Hospital, Newport Beach, USA

Voxel Based Morphometry (VBM) and Statistical Parametric Mapping of Positron Emission Tomography (SPM-PET) were performed to analyze the differences in brain morphology and PET activity between 18 JME patients and 16 Controls. VBM results showed that JME had more gray matter than Controls in the caudate, cingulate, temporal, and frontal regions. SPM-PET showed that Controls had more glucose uptake than JME in the frontal regions. These findings suggest that VBM and PET may provide complementary structural and functional information. Along with EEG, they might be useful to differentiate between FLE and JME patients.

14:30         3477.     Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Lateralising and Localising Epileptogenic Focus in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy with and Without Hippocampal Sclerosis

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Siew-Min Gan¹, Willy Handoko, Soren Christensen, Patricia Desmond, Terence O'brien

¹Royal Melbourne Hospital, Univeristy of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

Diffusion Tensor Imaging and volumetric changes are compared between Temporal Lobe Epilepsy patients with Hippocampal Sclerosis (HS+ve) and patients with no structural changes on standard MRI (HS-ve). In addition to ADC and FA, the p,q, and L derivatives of the tensor will be explored to quantify anisotropy changes in the hippocampus and the anterior temporal pole gray matter and white matter, with the aim to determine if DTI can localise the epileptogenic region in the subtypes of TLE and whether the DTI changes are independent of the structural changes of hippocampus sclerosis.

15:00         3478.     Thalamocortical Atrophy in Patients with Primary Generalized Tonic and Clonic Seizures [Not Available]

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Boris Christian Bernhardt¹, Daniel Rozen², Linda Horwood², Andrea Bernasconi¹

¹Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Canada; ²Brain Imaging Center, Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

Although previous work in idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) indicates that the thalamocortical circuitry is involved in the generation of the epileptic discharges, the neuropathological substrate of IGE is not fully defined. We measured cortical thickness and calculated the volumes of thalami on high-resolution MRI in IGE patients and healthy controls. In IGE, fronto-centro-parietal areas and the thalamus were bilaterally atrophic. Thickness in the same cortical regions had a high positive correlation with thalamus volumes. Duration of epilepsy negatively affected thalamus volumes and thickness in centro-parieto-occipital areas. Our results therefore demonstrate bilateral and progressive atrophy in thalamocortial networks in IGE.

13:30         3479.     Building a 3D Atlas of the Human Hippocampus from Postmortem Magnetic Resonance Imaging

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Paul A. Yushkevich¹, John Pluta¹, Brian B. Avants¹, David Minkoff¹, Stephen Pickup¹, Weixia Liu¹, John A. Detre¹, Murray Grossman¹, James C. Gee¹

¹University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

High resolution 9.4 Tesla imaging of the human hippocampus in vitro is performed in order to build a three-dimensional atlas of the structure. The atlas will serve as a model of hippocampal substructure for in vivo MRI studies of memory and neurodegenerative disorders.

Brain Tumor: Perfusion & Diffusion & fMRI

14:00         3480.     A Comparison of Enhancing Fraction and DCE-MRI Parameters in Glioma of Various Grade

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Samantha Jane Mills¹, Calvin Soh², Giovanni Buonaccorsi¹, James Patrick Bernard O'Connor¹, Susan Cheung¹, Sha Zhao¹, Geoffrey James Martin Parker¹, Alan Jackson¹

¹University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; ²Hope Hospital, Salford, UK

This study compares the proportion of enhancement of a tumour, enhancing fraction, with more complexly derived DCE-MRI parameters of blood volume (vp), contrast transfer coefficient (Ktrans) and the extra-vascular extracellular volume (ve) for a variety of cerebral gliomas of various histological grade. The relationship of these parameters with enhancing fraction is dependent upon tumour grade; in low grade tumours enhancing fraction relates to vp whilst in high grade tumours it relates to Ktrans. This is most likely a result of differences in the integrity of the blood brain barrier seen in tumours of different grade.

14:30         3481.     Valuation of Brain Tumours with MRS and PWI-DSC. Use of a Non Parametric Method in the Post Processing of PWI-DSC

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Salvador Olmos¹, Nicolas Nicolas Fayed², Jorge Humberto Davila ²

¹Universidad De Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain; ²Hospital Quiron, Zaragoza, Spain

High grade Brain tumors are highly vascularizated. These changes can be easily detected in Perfusion studies; however, as happen in our study sometimes a low vascularity is described. This could be explained by a loose of contrast trough the rupture of the BBB described in high grade tumors. Using a new non parametric method in the post processing of PWI-DCI we look for a better valuation of this phenomenon, that will allows us to have a better tool in the diagnosis of high grade tumors. However, at the moment the best tool for in the diagnosis of brain tumors is MRS.

13:30         3482.     Validation of a Standardization Technique for Brain Tumor RCBV Maps and Post-Contrast Anatomic Images

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Devyani P. Bedekar¹, Todd Jensen², Eric Paulson¹, Kathleen M. Schmainda¹

¹Medical College of WI, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; ²Jensen Bioinformatics, New Berlin, Wisconsin, USA

Relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) measurements for the same tissue type suffer from interpatient and interstudy variability. As a result, CBV values are commonly normalized to a chosen reference region of interest (ROI) such as white matter (WM).  But this technique of normalization is subjective and thus introduces user-dependent variability, and is time-consuming and therefore unlikely to become part of the routine evaluation of longitudinal studies.  In this study we demonstrate that standardization of the perfusion values to a consistent scale is at least as good as normalization to a reference ROI.  Furthermore, we validate that standardization does not alter the informational content of the image.  Thus, standardization enables fast, objective and accurate visual comparison across studies and can be employed with ease in the radiology workflow to longitudinally assess brain tumor progression and response to therapy.

14:00         3483.     Comparison of Quantitative Blood Flow Values  from DCE- And DSC-Based Perfusion in Glioblastoma Multiforme and Cerebral Tissue
[Not Available]

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Martine Isabella Dujardin¹, Steven Sourbron², Rob Luypaert¹, Cristo Chaskis¹, Smitha Makkat¹, Tadeusz Stadnik¹, Johan de Mey¹

¹UZ Brussel, Brussels, Belgium; ²Klinikum Grosshadern, Munich, Germany

In this study, we compare CBF values in glioblastoma multiforme and contralateral white and grey matter from T1-DCE-based [CBFT1] and T2*-DSC-based [CBFT2*] perfusion, as well as lesion-to-normal-white matter CBF ratios from both techniques. CBFT2*  measures were systematically higher compared to CBFT1 and CBF measures from both techniques did not show correlation. DSC-MRI CBF values may be reliable when normalized to a reference tissue type. However, since values of CBFT1 are  more in line with the findings for grey and white matter CBF from PET, DCE-based perfusion measures of CBF seem to be preferable in tumor perfusion work-up and follow up.  

14:30         3484.     A Comparison of DCE-MRI Derived Measure of Extracellular Volume and ADC in Glioblastoma Multiforme

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Samantha Jane Mills¹, Calvin Soh², Chris Rose¹, Susan Cheung¹, Sha Zhao¹, Geoffrey James Martin Parker¹, Alan Jackson¹

¹University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; ²Hope Hospital, Salford, UK

DCE-MRI provides quantification of the volume of the extravascular extracellular space (ve). An inverse linear relationship between the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and histological measures of cell density has been previously shown in glioma. We proposed that areas of increased cell packing (and low ADC) would have small extracellular volumes (and low ve). No relationship was found between ADC and ve in this study of high grade glioma. This failure of correlation may be due to a number of factors including co-registration issues, partial volume effects, tumour heterogeneity, and abnormalities in cell membrane permeability dictated by the underlying pathology.

15:00         3485.     Quantifying the Proportion of Enhancement in Relation to IAUC Thresholds; a Comparison with Other Measures of Enhancement in Adult Gliomas

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Samantha Jane Mills¹,², Calvin Soh², Susan Cheung¹, James Patrick Bernard O'Connor¹, Sha Zhao¹, Geoffrey James Martin Parker¹, Alan Jackson¹

¹University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; ²Hope Hospital, Salford, UK

This study details different methods for assessing the proportion of tumour enhancement in gliomas of various grade, in relation to IAUC values. We describe an optimum technique for separating tumour grade and detail how this compares to other previously described methods of assessing enhancement based upon signal intensity.

13:30         3486.     Longitudinal Assessment of Avastin Therapy Using Biological Response Indicator Perfusion Maps: Predicting Response to Therapy

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Melissa Lynne Wagner-Schuman¹, Devyani Bedekar¹, Eric S. Paulson¹, Doug E. Prah¹, Kathleen M. Schmainda¹

¹Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

The study of tumor angiogenesis for the diagnosis of gliomas has potential benefits in therapeutic management. With the recent clinical trials of anti-angiogenic agents, the necessity for angiogenesis biomarker development has become apparent. In this study we employed a noninvasive imaging technique, DSC-MRI to estimate relative cerebral blood volume and, with the aide of longitudinal registration, created functional cerebral blood volume (fCBV) maps in patients receiving Avastin. The fCBV maps correlated with patient response to treatment giving insight into treatment effectiveness. This study demonstrates longitudinal registration and creation of fCBV maps used to monitor tumor biology and predict therapeutic response.

14:00         3487.     "Hot Spot" Analysis for Glioblastoma Multiforme

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Priscilla Yeo¹, Poe J. Chen¹,², Weiting T. Zhang¹, Emmanuelle di Tomaso¹, Dan G. Duda¹, Rakesh K. Jain¹, Tracy T. Batchelor¹, Alma G. Sorensen¹

¹Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA; ²Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Past studies indicate that there is value in using tumor areas with the highest density of distinctly highlighted microvessels (“hot-spots”) as a prognostic indicator for various cancers. Here, we suggest using a spatial method of locating hot-spots in glioblastoma ROIs to predict survival outcomes of GBM patients.

14:30         3488.     Extravascular Enhancement with a Blood-Pool Contrast Agent - A New Class of Contrast in Magnetic Resonance Imaging

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Marco Essig¹, Matthias Voth², Martin Rohrer², Frederik Giesel¹

¹German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany; ²Bayer Schering, Berlin, Germany

We present the first study that shows the potential of the protein-binding blood-pool contrast agent gadofosvest trisodium (Vasovist®) for high quality contrast enhanced MR imaging of various cerebral tumors. Even at an early time point a robust enhancement could be observed with a substantially lower amount of Gadolinium-chelate.  Furthermore, based on previous experience in animal models one might expect an even more effective contrast at a later time point after administration.

Further controlled studies are ongoing to assess the clinical potential of these agents as well as the advantage over the currently established MR contrast agents.

15:00         3489.     Detection of Early Response After Radiosurgery for Vestibular Schwannoma Using an Eigen Vector Based Approach

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Yu-Chun Lin¹,², Chun-Chieh Wang², Koon-Kwan Ng², JiunJie Wang¹,²

¹ChangGung University, KweiShan, Taiwan; ²ChangGung Memorial Hospital, KweiShan, Taiwan

This study prospectively examined the changes of directional coherence of vestibular schwannoma (VS) at an acute stage of after stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) treatment. An eigenvector based index, intervoxel diffusion coherence (IVDC), was calculated, which described the coherence in the distribution of the white matter tracts in a voxel and its neighborhood. The results showed the IVDC increased significantly immediately after the treatment while FA remained stable throughout the period of investigation. Therefore IVDC is more sensitive than FA in early detection of the response to the SRS treatment for VS patients.

13:30         3490.     A Tract-Based Spatial Statistics Study of White Matter Compromise in Pediatric Brain Tumor Patients Treated with Cranial Radiation

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Donald Mabbott¹,², Conrad Rockel¹, Eric Bouffet¹,²

¹The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada; ²University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

We examined differences in FA for children treated with CRT relative to control subjects using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) to determine whether these differences are diffusely present across all regions of the brain or localized to specific regions.  Reduced FA in patients treated with CRT was evident relative to healthy controls across multiple regions, including the corpus callosum, internal capsule, cortico-spinal tracts, and hemispheric white matter. Using a tract-based spatial statistics methodology, we documented compromised white matter integrity in patients treated with CRT relative to controls.  These differences were diffuse and there was no evidence of regional variation in FA differences between patients and controls.

14:00         3491.     Differentiation Between Glioblastoma and Brain Metastasis Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging

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Sumei Wang¹, Sungheon Kim¹, Sanjeev Chawla¹, Wei Guo Zhang¹, Ronald L. Wolf¹, Donald M. O'Rourke¹, Kevin D. Judy¹, Elias R. Melhem¹, Harish Poptani¹

¹University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

In addition to conventional DTI metrics, ADC and FA, tensor shape measures such as linear and planar anisotropy coefficient (CL and CP) were used in this study to differentiate between glioblastoma and solitary brain metastasis. Forty glioblastoma and 19 brain metastasis patients underwent DTI studies at 3T. CL, CP, FA and ADC were measured from the enhancing part as well as peritumoral regions. CL, CP and FA values of the enhancing part in glioblastomas were significantly higher than those in metastases. These results indicate that DTI metrics including shape-oriented measures may be helpful in differentiating glioblastomas from brain metastases.

14:30         3492.     Repeatability of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient and Fractional Anisotropy in Patients with Recurrent Glioblastoma Multiforme

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Michael John Paldino¹, Dhiral Phadke¹, Annick DesJardins¹, James Vredenburgh¹, Henry Friedman¹, Daniel P. Barboriak¹

¹Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA

This study analyzes the repeatability of diffusion tensor imaging in patients with high grade glioma.  These results provide a context within which to interpret changes in diffusion parameters that occur after treatment.

15:00         3493.     Serial Diffusion Tensor Imaging to Characterize Radiation Induced Changes in Normal Appearing White Matter Following Radiotherapy in Patients with Adult Low Grade Gliomas (WHO Grade II)

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Shaleen Kumar¹, Mohammad Haris¹, Ankur Purwar², Mani Kartick Raj¹, KJ Maria Das¹, Sanjay Behari¹, Ram Kishore Singh Rathore², Rakesh Kumar Gupta¹

¹Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India; ²Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India

Quantitative evaluation of changes in normal appearing white matter (NAWM) of brain tumor patients receiving radiotherapy (RT) have been described using DTI metrics i.e. fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD). However, data on DTI metrics in NAWM irradiated to varying doses are scarce and in one recent study, confounded by the addition of chemotherapy to RT. Besides FA and MD, other DTI metrics i.e., linear case (CL), planar case (CP) and spherical case (CS) may provide additional information associated with WM injury. This study assessed the utility of various DTI metrics to characterize the threshold for detection and temporal evolution of changes in NAWM of adults with low grade glioma treated with RT. We found that upto 14-months following RT, the threshold of detection of radiation changes using FA, CL and CS is 45-50Gy while it was 50-55Gy when using MD and CP.

13:30         3494.     Preliminary Results of the Effects of Higher Order Reconstruction on Diffusion MRI Data on Our Predictive Model for Tumor Recurrence

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Anitha Priya Krishnan¹, Sharmistha Chaudhuri¹, Delphine Davis¹, Paul Okunieff¹, Walter G. O'Dell¹

¹University of Rochester, Rochester, USA

Our goal is to modify the treatment margin for Stereotactic Radiotherapy of primary brain tumors in accordance to our hypothesis that the tumor cells tend to migrate along the paths of elevated water diffusion. Previously we implemented a random walk model to predict migration of cancer cells constrained by the local diffusion environment. Here we compare the results of our random walk model based on one tensor reconstruction with the model based on multi tensor reconstruction of DTI data. The hypothesis is that the multi-tensor reconstruction will better simulate the cell migration pattern in areas of fiber crossing.

14:00         3495.     A Longitudinal Study of the Cortical Reorganization of Language Function in Brain Tumor Patients

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Kyung K. Peck¹, Nicole Brennan, Bob Hou, Andrei Holodny¹

¹Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA

The purpose of this longitudinal study is to measure the dynamic changes in language organization in brain tumor patients over time in an effort to better understand the mechanism underlying cortical adaptation.

Brain tumor patients with a low grade tumor directly adjacent to the language centers, were enrolled. The fMRI paradigm is designed to engage language related areas including Broca¡¯s area. Statistical parametric maps of pre-surgical, 3 months post-surgery and 6 months post-surgery fMRI language mapping supports the inter-hemispheric mechanism of cortical compensation in brain tumor patients.

14:30         3496.     Spectral Analysis of Hemodynamic Response Delays in Brain Tumor Patients

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Johan N. van der Meer¹, Sanna Gevers¹, Charles B. Majoie¹, Marina A. Tijssen¹, Aart J. Nederveen¹

¹Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Hemodynamic response delay times are assessed near tumor tissue using spectral analysis (SA) of fMRI time series. The presence of tumors can drastically alter this response time. Using SA, activation is measured near tumors where the GLM shows nothing. By using this method, the number of 'false negative' voxels are reduced.

15:00         3497.     Quantification of False Negative BOLD Response; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Brain Tumour Patients

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S. Gevers¹, J. N. van der Meer², R. B. Willemse², C. B.L.M. Majoie², A. J. Nederveen²

¹Academic Medical Centre , Amsterdam, Netherlands; ²Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) based on the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal, is used to assess the spatial relationship between eloquent cortical areas and brain tumour tissue. However, accumulating evidence suggests that the BOLD signal in the vicinity of tumour tissue does not reflect neuronal activity as accurately as it does in healthy brain tissue. Altered BOLD physiology might cause inverse responses to stimuli, that are missed by conventional GLM analysis. These false negative activations could undermine the applicability of fMRI in pre-neurosurgical brain mapping. In this study we quantified negative BOLD responses (NBR) in brain tumour patients using spectral analysis.

Innovative Neuroimaging Sequences & Applications I

13:30         3498.     Contrast Optimisation for SWI Venography at 7T

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Markus Barth¹,², Peter J. Koopmans¹

¹Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands; ²University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

We investigate the implications of a high magnetic field strength (7 Tesla) on MR venography based on susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) and estimate the optimum echo time to obtain maximum contrast between blood and brain tissue. We therefore measure T2* relaxation times of gray matter, white matter, and venous blood in vivo that yield 32.9±2.3 ms, 27.7±4.3 ms, and 7.4±1.4 ms, respectively. Optimum TE was found to be 15 ms which is supported by theoretical considerations. Using this TE very high resolution 3D datasets were acquired that amazingly detailed depiction of intracortical veins of the human.

14:00         3499.     Removal of Air/tissue Interface Field Effects in Susceptibility Weighted Imaging

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Jaladhar Neelavalli¹, Yu Chung Norman Cheng², Ewart Mark Haacke²,³

¹Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA; ²Wayne State University, Detroit,, USA; ³The Magnetic Resonance Imaging Institute for Biomedical Research, Detroit, USA

We present here a novel method for removing the rapid phase variations due to background field inhomogenieties which are caused by large susceptibility differences at air/tissue interfaces. We test the efficiency of this method in a phantom and apply it to human SWI phase images. These images are used to produce significantly higher quality susceptibility weighted magnitude images in the midbrain and forebrain regions.

14:30         3500.     Optimisation of Double-Inversion Recovery Sequences at 7T

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Jennifer Elizabeth Dixon¹, Paul S. Morgan¹, Matthew J. Brookes¹, Emma C. Tallantyre¹, Nikos Evangelou¹, Peter G. Morris¹

¹The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

DIR sequences have been found to be useful in the detection of cortical MS lesions. However, the low SNR available in these images at 3T suggests the importance of developing the sequence for use at higher field strengths. This requires the determination of inversion times to provide the desired contrast between grey matter and white matter, and must address the effects of the variation in flip angle due to B1 inhomogeneity at 7T. We present images acquired at both 3T and 7T for a range of TRs which successfully null the signal from WM and CSF.

15:00         3501.     Detection of White Matter Disease in the Brain and Spine Using Double Inversion Recovery SPACE at 3 Tesla

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Agus Priatna¹, Jaeseok Park², Chin-I Chen³, Shoe Mar, Yvette Sheline³, Tammie L.S. Benzinger³

¹Siemens Medical Solutions, St Louis, Missouri, USA; ²Siemens Medical Solutions, Erlangen, Germany; ³Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri, USA

Double IR SPACE or TSE has been shown to be useful for detecting white matter diseases such as multiple sclerosis in adult brain at 1.5T. Unlike conventional technique of using conventional 2D T2-weighted Dark-Fluid imaging (FLAIR), the double IR SPACE sequence provides better contrast between the white matter and the lesion because of the suppressed white matter signal. Because of the white matter lesions can spread to the brain and the spine, it would be desired to develop method of detecting the lesions in both brain and spine in adults, and pediatrics especially. The purpose of this study is to develop a method of detecting white matter diseases in both brain and spine in both pediatrics and adults using an optimized isotropic double inversion recovery 3D SPACE sequence at 3 Tesla.

13:30         3502.     Unreliability of Cortical Volumetry in Regions Near the Skull Base on 3D T1-Weighted Imaging: Comparison Study with 3D Double Inversion-Recovery Imaging

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Eunhye Yoo¹, Dong-Hyun Kim², Hae-Jeong Park¹, Eung-Yeop Kim¹

¹Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; ²Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

3D T1-weighted imaging is based on GRE sequence. Therefore, susceptibility artifact due to air-bone interface may happen and consequently give rise to hyperintensity within the cortex, which may be a problem for accurate and reliable measurement of the cortical volume. This pitfall can be solved if imaging is obtained with FSE sequence such as 3D double inversion-recovery imaging (DIR). In this study, we demonstrated that one or more regions in the bilateral orbitofrontal, inferior temporal, and fusiform cortices showed susceptibility artifacts on 3D T1-weighted imaging, causing underestimation of cortical volume, but not on 3D DIR in the corresponding regions.

14:00         3503.     Triple-Layer Appearance of the Primary Motor Cortex on Thin-Section Double Inversion-Recovery Imaging: Validation Study by Using Intraoperative Cortical Mapping

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Eunhye Yoo¹, Dong-Hyun Kim², Jong-Hee Chang¹, Hae-Jeong Park¹, Eung-Yeop Kim¹

¹Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea; ²Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Preoperative determination of the primary motor cortex (PMC) is crucial. For this purpose, many methods by using specific morphology of the cortices and sulcus have been suggested. However, no studies suggested the method using substructure of the PMC. It has been suggested that the PMC shows triple-layer appearance on thin-section 2D double inversion-recovery imaging (DIR) in all subjects more than 10 years of age. However, validation has not been performed. The triple-layer appearance on thin-section 2D DIR was validated as a new imaging marker of the PMC by using an intraoperative cortical mapping in this study.

14:30         3504.     High Resolution T2* and Phase Contrast of Human AD Brain Tissue at 9.4T: A Structural Comparison

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Rob J.A. Nabuurs¹, Julien R. Milles¹, Sanneke van Rooden¹, Jeroen van der Grond¹, J H. Reiber¹, Mark A. van Buchem¹, Louise van der Weerd¹

¹Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands

To further explore possible susceptibility effects caused by amyloid-&#946; plaques, we have obtained T2*-weighted magnitude and phase images at high magnetic field and high resolution from ex vivo human AD brain tissue. Different hypo-intense regions in the magnitude data showed a large variation in the corresponding phase data, showing that at high magnetic fields, the signal phase provides additional information about microscopic variations in magnetic susceptibility.

15:00         3505.     Comparison of Retinotopic Maps with Cortical Areas Identified Using High Resolution,  T2*-Weighted Images Acquired at 7T

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Rosa Maria Sanchez Panchuelo¹, Denis Schluppeck¹, Stuart Clare², Holly Bridge², Richard Bowtell¹, Sue Francis¹

¹University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK; ²University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Here we investigate the correspondence of functionally defined visual regions V1 and MT to areas displaying hypointense banding in cortical grey matter in high resolution T2*-weighted images acquired at 7 T. Retinotopic mapping based on a moving visual stimulus and 1.5 mm isotropic resolution fMRI was carried out on 4 subjects, who were subsequently imaged using a 3D gradient echo sequence providing 0.4 mm isotropic resolution. Significant overlap of areas displaying obvious banding in the T2*-weighted data, with the functionally defined V1 and MT areas was found by analysis of maps of the inflated cortex.

13:30         3506.     Comparison of Inversion Algorithms in MR Elastography of the Brain

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Matthew Christopher Murphy¹, Kevin J. Glaser¹, Joel P. Felmlee¹, Richard L. Ehman¹

¹Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota, USA

MR elastography (MRE) has the potential to detect mechanical changes in brain tissue that result from the progression of disease.  Optimization is required to apply MRE to the brain.  One important factor is comfort, which can be significantly improved by decreasing the acquisition time.  This work shows that the direct inversion (DI) algorithm is preferred to local frequency estimation since its solution converges with less than two-thirds as many slices.  Therefore by implementing DI, acquisition time of MRE in the brain can be reduced.

14:00         3507.     Comparison of MR Elastography of the Brain at 1.5 T and 3.0 T

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Matthew Christopher Murphy¹, Kevin J. Glaser¹, Joel P. Felmlee¹, Richard L. Ehman¹

¹Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota, USA

MR elastography (MRE) is potentially capable of detecting focal or diffuse changes in shear stiffness of the brain, which result from mechanical changes in the brain due to disease progression.  To develop MRE into a useful diagnostic tool for neurological disorders it must be optimized beginning with field strength.  Experiments were performed in phantom and human volunteers.  Phase and magnitude signal to noise ratios show that MRE data collected at 3.0 T is higher quality than data collected at 1.5 T.

14:30         3508.     Adaptive Centric View Ordering for Magnetization Prepared Gradient Echo Imaging

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Ersin Bayram¹, Charles R. Michelich¹, Anthony T. Vu¹, Reed F. Busse²

¹GE Healthcare, Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA; ²GE Healthcare, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Magnetization prepared gradient echo sequences are routinely used for T1 weighted isotropic brain imaging to enhance gray-white matter contrast.  Views are ordered such that a fixed number of phase-encodes in a single kx-ky or kx-kz plane are collected in a segmented centric or sequential fashion after an IR pulse is applied followed by an optional delay for magnetization recovery. A 1D trajectory through ky-kz space is limiting since only certain segment sizes are allowed based on the prescribed matrix size. This work improves the efficiency of magnetization prepared brain imaging by introducing an adaptive centric view ordering.  In addition to decoupling the train length from the matrix size, it also allows desirable time saving strategies such as k-space corner removal and 2D auto-calibrated acceleration with non-separable grid which are not possible with conventional view ordering, since the number of views from one kx-ky or kx-kz plane to the next varies.

15:00         3509.     Ultra-Fast T2-W. Single Shot TSE and Single Shot FLAIR MR Imaging Combining SENSE, Variable Refocusing Angle and Partial Fourier: Evaluation on Cooperative and Non-Cooperative MS Patients in Comparison to Standard TSE and FLAIR Imaging

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Jürgen Gieseke¹, Birgit Simon², Reanate Blömer², Hans H. Schild²

¹Philips Medical Systems, Bonn, Germany; ²University, Bonn, Germany

Introduction: Single shot and high SENSE-factor enable scan time shortening of about factor 10 for T2-w. TSE and factor 5 for TSE-FLAIR [4].  Purpose of the study was to evaluate the fast T2w.technique concerning the diagnostic image quality of non-cooperative MS patients

Material and Methods: Investigations were done at 3T. The sequences are combined with SENSE, partial Fourier and Flpi angle sweep.

RESULTS Concerning the head motion of the non-cooperative patients a correct diagnosis were difficult, whereas in the fast images the lesions could be correct detected.

DISCUSSION This technique potentially enables diagnostic image quality in non-cooperative patients.

Innovative Neuroimaging Sequences & Applications II

13:30         3510.     Efficient Multi-Slice Fast Spin Echo Imaging with Reduced Flip Angles at High Field

Computer 40

Robert Marc Lebel¹, Alan H. Wilman¹

¹University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

Here we employ reduced and variable refocusing flip angles for efficient (no delay time for SAR reduction) multi-slice FSE imaging at 4.7T. We investigate the magnetization transfer effect as a function of refocusing flip angle and demonstrate 25% signal attenuation in white matter with 180° pulses, but less than 5% attenuation at 60°. We show reduced flip angles are equally applicable to very rapid and to very high resolution imaging. We present HASTE images acquired in 600 ms/slice with 109 echoes at 55°, and very high resolution images (0.4 x 0.4 x 1 mm3) acquired in 6:30 with 100° pulses.

14:00         3511.     Non-Contrast Bulk Flow Imaging of Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Using Time-Spatial Labeling Inversion Pulse (Time-SLIP)

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Shinya Yamada¹, Mitsue Miyazaki²,³, Minako Higashi⁴, Hitoshi Kanazawa³, Yukuo Morohoshi, Stefan Bluml⁵, Gordon J. McComb

¹Tokai University at Oiso, Oiso, Japan; ²Toshiba Medical Research Institute USA, Vernon Hills, USA; ³Toshiba Medical Systems Corp., Otawara, Japan; ⁴Toshiba Medical Systems, Yokohama, Japan; ⁵Children

To observe bulk CSF flow, time-spatial labeling inversion pulse (time-SLIP) is applied to observe the CSF flow in a range of 1500 to 6000 ms. This technique was applied in various regions, including the aqueduct of the Sylvius, foramen of Monro, prepontine cistern and in the spinal canal. The bulk CSF flow was observed from the third to the fourth ventricle through the aqueduct. Up and down bulk CSF motions are seen in the ventral side of the subarachnoid space. In addition, CSF reflux was observed from the third ventricle to the lateral ventricle in all normal volunteers.

14:30         3512.     Rapid CSF Measurement Without Operator Intervention Using BSSFP 3D Radial Acquistion

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Youngkyoo Jung¹, Alexey A. Samsonov¹, Walter F. Block¹

¹University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Typical measurements of CSF are using SPGR scans or multiple acquisitions with different T1 and T2 weightings. Those methods are complicated by post-processing schemes requiring registration or segmentation. We propose a rapid, 90 sec scan for measuring CSF volume without operator intervention using a single inversion recovery (IR) balanced SSFP (bSSFP) scan with a 3D PR acquisition. A single 3D isotropic acquisition may provide higher precision, bright CSF, faster scan times, and simplified processing relative to conventional SPGR acquisition methods.

15:00         3513.     Temporal Course of Hyperdynamic Pulsatility and Ventricular Dilation in a New Rat Model of Communicating Hydrocephalus

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Shams Rashid¹, Helene Benveniste,¹², Michael R. Egnor¹, Jie Li³, James P. McAllister⁴, Mei Yu², Mark E. Wagshul¹

¹Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA; ²Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York, USA; ³Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA; ⁴University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Hydrocephalus has long been thought to be caused by CSF flow obstruction or malabsorption, but this fails to explain many observations about communicating hydrocephalus (CH).  In a new rat model of CH, changes in ventricular volume (VV) and CSF stroke volume (SV) in the cerebral aqueduct were investigated using MRI. Hydrocephalus developed in two very distinct forms: severe - highly elevated SV and VV, and mild - mild ventricular dilation and slightly elevated SV which dropped back to normal levels after one week. These results may have important clinical implications for understanding the significance of elevated CSF pulsations in CH.

13:30         3514.     Evaluation of T1-Weighted MRI Methods for Clinical Brain Imaging at 3.0 Tesla

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Chen Lin¹, Andrew Kalnin¹, Kristine Mosier¹, Annette Johnson², Larry Friggle³, Aaron Flammang⁴

¹Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; ²Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston Salem, North Carolina, USA; ³Clarian Health Partners, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; ⁴Siemens

Direct comparison of imaging quality of five T1 weighted imaging methods, conventional SE with reduced flip angle, T1 FLAIR, 2D and 3D FLASH and MP-RAGE at 3.0T was made by scanning a group of healthy adult volunteers. Based on quantitative measurement of SNR and CNR of gray matter and white matter as well as independent review by radiologists, T1 FLAIR was shown to provide the best overall image quality. Other advantages and drawbacks of each method were also analyzed.

14:00         3515.     Improvement of Midbrain Nuclei Susceptibility Contrast in T1-Weighted SPGR for Image Guided Deep Brain Stimulation

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Nan-kuei Chen¹, Geoffrey S. Young²

¹Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA; ²Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

3D-SPGR currently used for stereotactic image guidance in deep-brain stimulation does not provide adequate midbrain nuclei contrast. Therefore an extra T2-weighted MRI is needed for midbrain nuclei visualization. However, the surgical planning based on two datasets may be susceptible to further errors related to subject movement. Here we propose a procedure capable of providing both stereotactic T1-MRI and high midbrain nuclei contrast without extra scans. Acquisition parameters of SPGR are chosen in a way that (1) T1 contrast suitable for stereotactic imaging is obtained, and (2) high midbrain nuclei contrast is achieved by performing regional susceptibility weighted reconstruction.

14:30         3516.     Investigating the Function of the Cardiovascular and Respiratory Centers in the Brain Stem by Breath-Holding Using Reduced FOV EPI Technique

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Chun-Jung Juan¹, Tzu-Cheng Chao², Yi-Jui Liu³, Cheng-Yu Chen¹, Chun-Jen Hsueh¹, Chung-Ping Lo¹, Hsiao-Wen Chung², Te-Cheng Lai³, Guo-Shu Huang¹

¹Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; ²National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; ³Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan

In skull base, the susceptibility of regional magnetic field inhomogeneity distorts the EPI images due to long readout train. We use zoom EPI technique to reduce the FOV in the phase-encoding direction to remedy the imaging distortion on EPI sequence. Then, the function of the cardiovascular and respiratory function, which are located in the lower pons, is investigated by breath-holding fMRI. Our results will show you satisfactory imaging quality of hte brain stem and activation in the lower pons in the breath-holding task.

15:00         3517.     Constructive Interference Steady-State Imaging in Post-Mortem Human Brain: An Alternative or Adjunct to Conventional Autopsy?

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Jennifer Andrea McNab¹, Ned Jenkinson², Tipu Aziz², Karla L. Miller¹

¹University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; ²University of Oxford, UK

Post-mortem diagnosis of neuropathology is an important means of learning more about diseases of the central nervous system and can have a major impact on the management of future patients. Though several studies have previously presented post-mortem MRI, most have not been optimised for the changed properties of fixed tissue. Due to similar relaxation times in WM and GM conventional T₁, T₈ -weighted imaging protocols no longer provide adequate contrast in fixed tissue. In this study, we present  a 3D steady-state imaging protocol, which provides excellent contrast in fixed tissue.

13:30         3518.     Optimization of MDEFT with FLASH-EPI Hybrid Readout for Optimum Contrast in Selected Brain Areas [Not Available]

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Steffen Volz¹, Ralf Deichmann¹

¹Brain Imaging Center, J.W. Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany

In fMRI the MDEFT sequence is widely used as T1-weighted reference scan with high spatial resolution because of its advantageous contrast characteristics, especially at high field strengths. An MDEFT sequence with FLASH-EPI hybrid readout and a total acquisition time of 6 min was optimized at 3T to achieve maximum CNR and SNR for cortical WM and GM and to enhance the visibility of brain structures in the basal ganglia. The SNR and CNR values achieved were similar to results reported for a standard version of MDEFT with the same spatial resolution but twice the acquisition time.

14:00         3519.     Routine High Resolution MRI in Small Animals at 9.4 Tesla Using a Cryogenic Quadrature Transceive RF Probe

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Christof Baltes¹, Nicole I. Radzwill², Simone C. Bosshard¹, Daniel Marek³, Markus Rudin¹,⁴

¹University and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; ²Bruker BioSpin MRI, Ettlingen, Germany; ³Bruker BioSpin AG, Fällanden, Switzerland; ⁴University Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Recently, the benefits of cryogenic RF probes for small animal MR imaging have been investigated in detail. Cooling of the RF coil and the connected preamplifier resulted in significantly increased sensitivity. The aim of this work was a comparison under in vivo conditions of a cryogenic quadrature transceive coil to a room temperature quadrature receive only coil. The comparison revealed SNR gains of 2.5 on average for both spin echo and gradient echo sequences. In addition, this flexible and robust cryogenic RF probe allowed for in vivo micro-imaging of the cerebellum in reasonable scan times.

14:30         3520.     Sleepiness and Accuracy Correlate Abnormal BOLD-FMRI Responses During Sleep Deprivation

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Dardo Tomasi¹, Ruiliang Wang¹, Frank Telang¹, Vasilios Boronikolas¹, Millard C. Jayne¹, Gene-Jack Wang¹, Joanna S. Fowler¹, Nora D. Volkow²

¹Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, USA; ²National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA

Here we investigate the effect of sleep deprivation (SD) on brain activation using a set of visual attention and working memory tasks with graded levels of difficulty and high-field fMRI. During the SD session, 16 healthy men had higher sleepiness, lower performance accuracy, higher thalamic activation, lower prefrontal activation, lower deactivation in the precuneus, and lower connectivity between the thalamus and the precuneus than during the rested wakefulness session. For both tasks, activation of the anterior cingulate correlated with sleepiness and accuracy. These findings suggest that under SD, accurate performance require larger recruitment of brain resources involved with alertness.

15:00         3521.     Plasticity in Congenitally Blind During Object Recognition

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Anand Mohan Sinha¹, Senthil S. Kumaran¹, Rohit Saxena¹

¹All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

The study investigates the neuronal centers associated with perception of object in congenitally blind using fMRI. We recruited thirty right handed congenitally blind subjects and 22 healthy controls. Significant bilateral parietal activation was observed in controls as observed using one-way ANOVA test (p< 0.001). The perception in congenitally blind subjects involves cingulate and temporal areas as compared to middle occipital gyrus in controls, suggesting brain reorganization associated with tactile object recognition (visual imagery) task.

13:30         3522.     MRI Texture Analysis as a Non Invasive Tool to Show Cerebral Structural Changes After Herbicide Ingestion in Mice

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Sandra Même¹, William Même, Bich Thuy Doan¹, Jean-Claude Beloeil¹

¹CNRS CBM UPR4301, Orléans, France

Glufosinate ammonium (or phosphinothricin PPT) is the active element of herbicides widely used in agriculture or truck farming . Lots of transgenic plants resistant to that herbicide have been developed. Significant quantities of PPT are present in plants and consequently, in animal or human food which can lead to chronical intoxication. PPT also interacts with the cerebral glutamatergic system in mammalians and can, even with low dose, lead to neurological disorders. The aim of this study was to use Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) coupled with Texture Analysis as a non invasive tool to evaluate the effect of PPT treatment with different doses on mice central nervous system.

14:00         3523.     Detection of Radiation-Induced Brain Injuries by Multi-Modal Magnetic Resonance Imaging

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Kevin C. Chan¹,², Matthew M. Cheung¹, Ke Xia Cai¹, Ho-fai Lau¹, C N. Tam¹, Si Lun Wang¹, Pek Lan Khong¹, Ed Xuekui Wu¹

¹The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

This study aimed to employ in vivo multi-modal MR imaging to understand the radiation-induced brain damage in rats in correlation to histopathological changes at 12 months after radiation treatment. Results showed a loss in contrast in the ipsilateral corpus callosum and external capsule in T2WI, with a corresponding hyperintensity in trace map. The fractional anisotropy has also dropped in the fimbria of the hippocampus, suggestive of degeneration in this white matter structure; Significant increase in Cho:Cr and Lac:Cr ratios, and a marginally significant elevation in Glu:Cr ratio were observed at the site of radiation, whereas colocalization was found between manganese-enhanced MRI pattern and immunostaining for GFAP, MnSOD and GS, likely due to their Mn-dependent upregulation against oxidative stress and glutamate excitotoxicity.

Alzheimer's Disease, Dementia, Age

14:30         3524.     Comparative Diagnostic Utility of the Different MR Modalities in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Its Use as Predictor of Dementia

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Nicolas Fayed¹, Jorge Humberto Davila Acosta¹, Antonio Oliveros¹

¹Hospital Quiron, Zaragoza, Spain

The objective was to evaluate the use of PWI, DWI and MRS in patients with amnesic mild cognitive impairment as predictor´s tools of conversion to Dementia.  Also, we tried to differentiate the different types of aMCI using these tools. The percentage of people who converted to dementia was 45%, including not only patients with Alzheimer Disease but also mixed dementia, vascular dementia and Lewy Body Disease. MRS results showed the best area under ROC curve to predict the conversion from aMCI to Dementia, being the best predictor the ratio NAA/Cr in the Posterior cingulated gyri.

15:00         3525.     Regional Assessment of White Matter Damage at Different Stages of Alzheimer's Disease Using TBSS

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Laura Serra¹, Mara Cercignani¹, Delia Lenzi¹,², Roberta Perri¹, Fabrizio Fasano¹,³, Carlo Caltagirone¹,⁴, Emiliano Macaluso¹, Marco Bozzali¹

¹IRCCS Fondazione S. Lucia, Roma, Italy; ²Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy; ³Siemens Medical, Italy; ⁴Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy

It is known that Alzheimer's disease (AD) involves both white and grey matter, and that abnormalities of both tissues correlate with measures of cognitive decline. This study aims at localizing white matter abnormalities in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) using tract based spatial statistics (TBSS), a novel approach to perform whole-brain analysis of diffusion tensor (DT) MRI. We found widespread white matter abnormalities in patients with AD compared to both MCI patients and healthy subjects. The areas of abnormalities in patients with MCI compared to healthy controls were less, and of lesser extent.

13:30         3526.     Voxel Based Relaxometry of Alzheimer's Disease

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Himachandra Chebrolu¹, Charles Dennis Smith¹, Peter Andrew Hardy¹

¹University of Kentucky, Lexington, USA

Voxel Based Relaxometry was used to correlate changes in T2 with cognitive status in a group of normal, MCI and AD subjects. Results show regions of negatiave correlation between T2 and MMSE in the temporal lobe and the hippocampus consistent with the known course of atrophy in AD.

14:00         3527.     Significantly Asymmetric Patterns of Periventricular Atrophy in Alzheimer Disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Memory Complainers Detected on Clinical MR Images

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Lucs Ferrarini¹, Walter Miguel Palm¹, Hans Olofsen¹, Jeroen van der Grond¹, Mark A. van Buchem¹, Johan H.C. Reiber¹, Faiza Admiraal-Behloul¹

¹Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands

The aim of this work was to investigate left-right asymmetries in the patterns of periventricular atrophy in patients with Alzheimer Disease (AD), Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and memory complaints (MC), in clinical MR images. The study included 63 AD, 28 MCI, 21 MC, and 28 healthy volunteers. A robust shape analysis technique was used to highlight local ventricular shape changes and estimate both the extent and severity of periventricular atrophy. Results were clustered in symmetrical regions and compared with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The analysis showed how MC and MCI affect mostly right periventricular structures, and AD mostly left periventricular structures.

14:30         3528.     Metabolite Profiles in the Frontal and Occipital Cortices in Alzheimer’s Disease as Analyzed by HRMAS 1H NMR

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Liya Wang¹, Marla Gearing¹, Xiaoxia Wang¹, Shaoxiong Wu¹, Carolyn C. Meltzer¹, Hui Mao²

¹Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; ²Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, USA

Synopsis               Neurochemical changes in the frontal and occipital cortices of AD and age matched non-demented controls were analyzed using HRMAS 1H NMR and intact postmortem tissue.  Metabolite profiles obtained from those regions revealed statistically significant decreases of NAA, GABA, Cho, MI, aspartic (Asp) and taurine (Tau) as well as increases of phosphocholine (PC) and glyocerphosphocholine (GPC) in the AD brains. A resonance at 3.71 and 5.85 ppm, not reported previously, appeared in 75% AD samples and 91% specificity respectively.  Furthermore, the abnormal metabolite profiles of AD brain were strongly correlated with the APOE genotypes of the subjects.

15:00         3529.     Diffusion Tensor Imaging and Cortical Thickness Mapping of Mild Cognitive Impairment

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Liya Wang¹,², Felicia C. Goldstein¹, Chunchun Ni¹, Mingguo Qiu³, James J. Lah¹, Allan I. Levey¹, Hui Mao⁴

¹Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; ²The Second Hospital of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China; ³Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China; ⁴Em

The study examined the utility of DTI and cortical thickness mapping in identifying patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).  Fractional anisotropy (FA), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and cortical thickness in the left temporal WM and GM were significantly different in MCI patients versus normal aging controls. The combination of FA and cortical thickness measurements in temporal areas improved the accuracy of differentiating MCI patients from healthy controls compared to either measure alone.

13:30         3530.     Reduced Glutamate in the Hippocampus in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer Disease

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Raul Rajiv Rupsingh¹,², Michael Borrie²,³, Matthew Smith³, Jennie Wells²,³, Rob Bartha¹,²

¹Robarts Research Institute, London, Canada; ²University of Western Ontario, London, Canada; ³Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Canada

LASER localized MRS data were acquired from the right hippocampus of 10 Normal Elderly Controls, 6 subjects with Mild Cognitive Impairment and 6 patients with Alzheimer Disease at baseline and at 1-year. No significant differences in the rate of metabolite change were found between groups. Cross-sectional analysis revealed significant differences in the levels of NAA and glutamate between groups at both time points.

14:00         3531.     Assessment of Cerebral Blood Flow in Alzheimer's Disease by Continuous Arterial Spin Labeling MR Imaging

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Rui Wang¹, Saying Li¹, Xuna Zhao², Min Chen¹

¹Beijing Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China; ²Philips medical system, Beijing, People's Republic of China

The continuous arterial spin labeling (CASL) MR imaging is another method to detect CBF abnormalities. Our aim is to compare regional CBF values between AD patients and control subjects to explore the clinical utility of CASL. Eighteen AD patients and 15 control subjects underwent 3.0 T CASL and structural MRI. The CBF values of bilateral frontal, temporal, temporoparietal, parietal cortices and hippocampal areas were significantly decreased relative to control subjects(P<0.05). CASL can show regional hypoperfusion with AD, in cerebral regions involved similar to that seen with SPECT. The results suggest CASL is a useful tool for CBF characterization of AD.

14:30         3532.     Regional Demyelination of Subcortical White Matter in Early Alzheimer’S Disease: A Magnetization Transfer Imaging Study

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Eleonora Fornari¹, Maria G. Knyazeva¹, Philippe Maeder¹, Joseph Ghika¹, Andrea Brioschi¹, Isebelle Bourquin¹, Reto Meuli¹

¹Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder manifested by progressive cognitive deterioration. Since higher cognitive functions are based on distributed neural networks, the AD-associated cognitive impairment is expected to result from the compromised cortical connectivity. The aim of this study is to assess the regional state of myelination of the subcortical white matter in the newly diagnosed AD patients.

Our results point to a diffused degenerative process affecting the subcortical WM early in AD. Regional mapping of myelin loss in AD patients is an accurate tool providing anatomical information that can explain clinical manifestations of the disease, and its early pathogenesis.

15:00         3533.     T_1ρ MRI as a Clinical Biomarker of Alzheimer's Disease

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Matthew A. Sochor¹,², Christopher Davatzikos, Elias R. Melhem¹, Christopher M. Clark, Ravi Reddy¹, Ari Borthakur¹

¹University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is essential to the development of drugs and treatments to halt or reverse the disease’s progression. In an ongoing clinical study, T1rho values are measured in the temporal lobe (TL) of AD and mildly cognitively impaired (MCI) patients, and age-matched controls.  T1rho values are automatically reported after segmentation of gray and white matter in the TL.  We found an increase of 5% (p<0.05) in gray matter and 8% (p<0.01) in white matter T1rho in AD patients over controls. The MCI cohort’s average T1rho values were between the AD and control cohorts.

13:30         3534.     Resting State FMRI of the Early Stages of Alzheimer's Disease [Not Available]

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Tommaso Gili¹,², Laura Serra³, Federico Giove¹,², Delia Lenzi²,³, Emiliano Macaluso³, Carlo Caltagirone³,⁴, Bruno Maraviglia,¹², Marco Bozzali³

¹Enrico Fermi Center, Rome, Italy; ²Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; ³IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy; ⁴Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy

The synchrony of low-frequency fluctuations in resting stat  fMRI time series implies that there is underlying functional organization of the brain. In the present work, we compare low frequency correlation analysis obtained from patients with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment and patients with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) to that obtained from an age-matched group of healthy subjects. Our study suggests that a pattern of abnormalities, similar  to the one previously obtained from AD patients, is already present in patients with MCI, thus characterising the cognitive dysfunction occurring in AD pathology since its early stages.

14:00         3535.     High Field Amyloid Imaging

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Sanneke van Rooden¹, Mathias van Osch², Wouter Teeuwisse², Rob Nabuurs², Louise van der Weerd², Mark van Buchem², Jeroen van der Grond²

¹Radiology LUMC, Leiden, Netherlands; ²Radiology LUMC, Netherlands

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is characterized neuropathologically by extracellular amyloid plaques. The specific aim of the study was to find optimal acquisition parameters to visualize ex vivo the amyloid burden and small microbleeds in deceased HCHWA-D patients at whole body 7T.  The advantage of the HCHWA-D model is that all mutation carriers have a severe vascular amyloid burden. Gradient echo brain imaging at high field strengths offers excellent possibilities to visualize small distortions of the magnetic field, offering the potential to detect amyloid plaques. A multi-echo approach may be useful to differentiate between distortions caused by air bubbles and iron accumulation

14:30         3536.     Relation of Corpus Callosum Commissural System Volume and Its Projection Regions to Volume of White Matter Lesion Load and Whole Brain Atrophy with Age in Healthy Adults

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Svetlana Egorova¹, M P. Sampat¹, C Sander¹, Deborah Blacker², M S. Albert², R J. Killiany³, C R. Guttmann¹

¹BWH, HMS, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; ²MGH, HMS, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; ³BU, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

We analyze the degree of age-related atrophy changes of the corpus callosum during normal aging in healthy subjects and its relationship with white matter lesion load and whole brain atrophy.

15:00         3537.     Differential Effects of Age and Hypertension on Brain Anatomy and Physiology Assessed by Regional T2* Relaxometry and Volumetry

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Karen M. Rodrigue¹, E. Mark Haacke¹, Naftali Raz¹

¹Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA

Within a healthy aging model, regional T2* values decline with age in the prefrontal cortex, medial temporal structures and striatum, but not in the primary visual cortex. Those differences are enhanced by hypertension.  In the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex, the effect of age on T2* is stronger than on the respective volumes.

13:30         3538.     Anterior-To-Posterior Hippocampal Metabolic Heterogeneity in Healthy Elderly and Young Adults Using 3D 1H MR Spectroscopy

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Kevin King¹, Songtao Liu¹, Lidia Glodzik-Sobanska¹, James Babb¹, Mony de Leon¹, Oded Gonen¹

¹NYU School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA

To quantify the metabolite concentrations along the anterior-posterior axis of the hippocampus in healthy young and elderly, 6 ¡®young¡¯ and 6 ¡®elderly¡¯ volunteers underwent 3D 1H-MRSI at 3T with (0.5 cm)3 spatial resolution. Absolute concentrations of NAA, Cho and Cr were obtained in each voxel. A significant metabolic heterogeneity is observed between young and old and along the anterior-posterior axis of the hippocampus in both age groups. These underscore the importance of age-matching and that consistent voxel placement is important for correct comparisons of both absolute metabolic levels and metabolite ratios in (a) longitudinal intra-subject; and (b) inter-subject cross-sectional studies.

14:00         3539.     Cortical Thickness Measurements with Buried Sulcus Recovery from MRI: An Application to Dementia

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Sandhitsu R. Das¹, Brian B. Avants¹, Murray Grossman¹, James C. Gee¹

¹University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

A new methodology for cortical thickness measurements from MR images is presented. The method uses registration-based techniques to define correspondence  between white matter and gray matter surface points and the distance between corresponding points is defined as thickness. Using diffeomorphic mapping allows for resolution of deep sulci often mislabeled as gray matter. The method is applied to a longitudinal study of thickness change in frontotemporal dementia.

14:30         3540.     Cerebral Vasoreactivity as the Main Determinant of Progression of White Matter Hyperintensities in Small Vessel Disease: CADASIL as a Monogenetic Model

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Michael K. Liem¹, Saskia A.J. Lesnik Oberstein¹, Joost Haan,¹², Rivka van den Boom¹, Michel D. Ferrari¹, Mark A. van Buchem¹, Jeroen van der Grond¹

¹Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands; ²Rijnland Hospital, Leiderdorp, Netherlands

In this study we investigated the role of basal total cerebral blood flow (TCBF) and cerebral vasoreactivity (CVR) on progression of characteristic MRI abnormalities in cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL), which is a monogenetic model of arterial small vessel disease. We found that low CVR is associated with faster progression of white matter hyperintensities, but not with progression of lacunar infarcts or microbleeds. TCBF was not associated with progression of MRI abnormalities. CVR is an important causal factor in development of white matter hyperintensities in CADASIL and possibly also in small vessel disease in general.

15:00         3541.     Periventricular Apparent Diffusion Coefficient, Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Aqueductal Flow Rate and Evan’s Index - Value of Pre and Post Shunt Comparison in Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH)

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Samuel ES Ng¹, Angela MS Low¹, Kok Kee Tang², Robert K. Kwok¹

¹Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore, Singapore; ²KK Tang Adult & Pediatric Neurosurgery, Singapore

We believe that the symptoms of NPH are caused not by ventriculomegaly, but by a blockage to the flow of extracellular cerebral fluid.  

If the former were true, shunt responders would show interval decrease in FR / EI.   If the latter were true, responders would post an interval decrease in ADC, vice versa for non-responders.

In our study, for responders, improvement in MRI readings for ADC, FR and EI was seen in 100%, 67% and 100%. For the non-responders, similar readings ADC, FR and EI were seen in 0%, 67%, and 67%.

Only the ADC showed total concordance with shunt response.

13:30         3542.     Measurement Of Transependymal Bulk CSF Flow in Communicating Hydrocephalus [Not Available]

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Noam Alperin¹, Sang H. Lee², William Chiang¹, Roberta Glick³, Tadanori Tomita⁴, John Curran⁴

¹University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, USA; ²University of Illinois         , Chicago, Illinois, USA; ³Rush University, Chicago, Illinois, USA; ⁴Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Periventricular hyper intensities is often seen in hydrocephalous and is associated with edema or CSF retention. The origin for this increased interstitial water content could be local, either vascular or cellular, or ventricular by transependymal bulk CSF flow. Identifying the possible origin for these hyper intensities may help establish the correct diagnosis and treatment. We tested the hypothesis that ventricular-to-parenchyma transependymal flow is associated with reversed net CSF flow through the aqueductal by measurements of bulk aqueductal CSF flow in hydrocephalic patients and in two control groups in whom no hyperintensities were present.  Revered balk flow was found only in the hydrocephalic group. All patients with negative net balk flow demonstrated white matter periventricular hyperintensities.

14:00         3543.     Voxelwise DTI and FLAIR Correlation Analysis for Characterization of White Matter Degeneration

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Wang Zhan¹, Yu Zhang¹, Susanne Mueller¹, Peter Lorenzen¹, Efstathios Hadjidemetriou¹, Xiaoping Zhu¹, Shannon Buckley¹, Marzieh Nezamzadeh¹, Norbert Schuff¹, Michael W. Weiner¹

¹University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California , USA

White matter (WM) degeneration has been investigated with two major MRI modalities: i.e. diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to detect the alterations of microstructural integrity in WM, and fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) to exam the macroscopic WM lesions (WML). However, the specific relationship between them remains largely unknown in characterizing lesion severity. The present study aims to clarify this relationship by using voxelwise correlation analysis between DTI and FLAIR images acquired from a same group at 4T. Results from both in-vivo and simulations suggest that combined DTI and FLAIR modalities together may provide higher specificity in characterizing the WM degeneration than each alone.

14:30         3544.     Detecting Diffuse White Matter Alterations in Healthy Volunteers Using Tissue Specific Imaging: Potential Implications for Cognitive Function

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Vasiliki N. Ikonomidou¹, Susan K. Stern¹, Antonio Gallo¹, Iordanis E. Evangelou¹, Joan M. Ohayon¹, Mary Ehrmantraut¹, Irene Cortese¹, Constantinos D. Frantzis¹, Henry F. McFarland¹, Robert L. Kane², Francesca Bagnato¹

¹National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA; ²VA Medical Center, Baltimore, USA

Diffuse white matter changes are a common finding in clinically healthy subjects. No clinical significance has been attributed to them. In this study, we present a semi-automated method to identify and quantify affected white matter tissue using Tissue Specific Imaging. Results from 21 healthy volunteers indicate that the affected volume fraction has significant correlations with the subjects’ scores in some components of a comprehensive cognitive battery for multiple domain evaluation.

15:00         3545.     Radial Diffusivity Measurement  of the Corpus Callosum to Investigate Normal Aging and Pathological Cognitive Decline

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Fabrizio Fasano¹,², Mara Cercignani¹, Barbara Basile¹,³, Laura Serra¹, Delia Lenzi¹,⁴, Carlo Caltagirone¹,⁵, Marco Bozzali¹

¹Fondazione Santa Lucia, Roma, Italy; ²Siemens Medical, Milano, Italy; ³Scuola di Psicoterapia Cognitiva (SPC), Roma, Italy; ⁴Università La Sapienza, Roma, Italy; ⁵Università Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy

An high sensitivity radial diffusivity estimation is performed in the corpus callosum of 19 young and 6 ederly healthy volunteers, and on 6 mild cognitive impairment  and 4 alzheimer disease patients  Our results show a correlation between radial diffusivity values in the genu of corpus callosum and normal aging. In the same region also a promising trend of the mean radial diffusivity is found among groups.

Psychiatric MRI/MRS

13:30         3546.     Magnetization Transfer Imaging and Volume Changes Detected by MRI in First-Episode Schizophrenia

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Gary Price¹, Mara Cercignani¹, Elvina M. Chu¹, Thomas R E Barnes², Gareth J. Barker³, Eileen M. Joyce¹, Maria A. Ron¹

¹University College London, London, UK; ²Imperial College Faculty of Medicine, London, UK; ³King’s College London, London, UK

This study uses 3D IR-SPGR and 3D MT-SPGR sequences to study 48 patients with 'first-episode' schizophrenia and 47 controls.  Two volumes from the MT-SPGR sequence were co-registered using FLIRT and MTR maps were then calculated on a pixel-by-pixel basis.  SPM2 was then employed integrating the "optimised VBM" approach.  MTR reductions were seen in the patient group but not controls.  Grey and white matter loss was also seen in the patient group, as well as grey matter increases in the patient group in the superior frontal gyral region.  The results suggest that MTR and volume abnormalities detected in patients may reflect different underlying processes or different stages of a process in the illness.

14:00         3547.     ROI-Based VBM Study of Amygdala and Hippocampus in First-Episode Treatment Naive Schizophrenia Patients

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Ling Zou¹, Luo Ouyang², Wei Deng³, Qin Chen³, Zhengyang Li¹, Weiwei Zhang¹, Su Lv¹, Yi Wei¹, Tijiang Zhang¹, Xiaoqi Huang¹, Dongming Li⁴, Xiuli Li⁴, Tao Li³, QiYong Gong¹

¹West China Hospital, Sichuan Universty, Chengdu, People's Republic of China; ²South West University, People's Republic of China; ³West China Hospital, Sichuan Universty, People's Republic of China; ⁴West China

Small medial temporal lobe volumes have been reported as one of the common findings in schizophrenia patients, some of them with inconsistent substructure changes. However, most studies recruited chronic patients regardless of medication. We applied ROI based VBM study of gray matter density in amygdala and hippocampus to patients only with first-episode, antipsychotic-naive schizophrenia, and consequently observed no significant changes. It is likely that the observed structural abnormalities of amygdale and hippocampus in previous studies may attribute to medication and/or subsequent neurodegenerative changes over time. Future large cohort study is necessary to gain further insight into our current findings.

14:30         3548.     A Seven Year Longitudinal ³¹P MRS Study of Schizophrenia

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Jodi E. Miller¹,², Peter C. Williamson², Ravi S. Menon²,³, R W J Neufeld², Dick J. Drost¹,²

¹Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Canada; ²University of Western Ontario, London, Canada; ³Robarts Research Institute, London, Canada

Our continuing longitudinal study of schizophrenia has measured phosphorus brain metabolism in patients and controls for a third time, seven years after the onset of disease using 3 dimensional chemical shift imaging.  This acquisition has allowed us to observe the effect of length of illness on metabolite changes in patients.  In the anterior cingulate there was a significant decrease in breakdown and synthesis products in patients as compared to controls.  In the left thalamus there was a trend of decreased breakdown products in patients as compared to controls.  Breakdown products in both of these regions were negatively correlated with length of illness.

15:00         3549.     2-D 1H MRSI Study of Prefrontal Cortex in the Brain of First-Episode Psychosis Patients

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Jing-Huei Lee¹,², Wen-Jang Chu¹, Mi Jung Kim¹, Caleb M. Adler¹, Stephen M. Strakowski¹

¹University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, USA

The specific abnormalities of neurochemistry underlying the development of psychotic disorders (schizophrenic, schizoaffective, and bipolar disorder) are still not completely known. Some neuroimaging studies had reported that neuroanatomical changes in certain brain regions had been linked to these psychotic disorders. These aberrant changes are observed most prominently in medial temporal and prefrontal lobe regions. In this work, we extended the neuroimaging findings to the study of neurospectroscopy using 2D 1H MRSI with a focus on the prefrontal lobe region. Our findings suggest elevated choline levels in the prefrontal region may be associated with the severity of psychotic symptoms.

13:30         3550.     The Subdivided Corpus Callosum in Schizophrenia: A DTI Study

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Pin-Yi Chiang¹, Kun-Hsien Chou², Yi-Ping Chao³, I-Yun Chen⁴, Tung-Ping Su⁵, Ching-Po Lin¹,⁴

¹Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; ²Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; ³Institute of Electrical Engin

Numbers of studies have suggested that schizophrenia is a condition of abnormal connectivity in the cortico-cortical connections and the connections between the hemispheres. To understand the abnormal areas and the related connections, 25 schizophrenia patients and 25 healthy subjects were acquired and compared using DTI technique.  Comparing regional differences of fraction anisotropy (FA) between the patient-control groups can reflect the abnormal connectivity between the hemispheres in the specific cortical regions. The corpus callosum for analyzing was defined on the midsagittal slice and subdivided to 8 areas based on a method described by Witelson in 1989. The results indicated that the communication between the hemispheres in prefrontal lobe, motor area, somaesthetic area and inferior temporal lobe were poor in schizophrenia patients.

14:00         3551.     Gender Difference in Schizophrenia Revealed by Resting-State Functional MRI

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Xiaoqi Huang¹,², Qihong Zou², Wei Deng¹, Su Lui¹, Ling Zou¹, Tijiang Zhang¹, Xiuli Li¹, Dongming Li¹, Tao Li¹, Yufeng Zang², Qiyong Gong¹

¹West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, People's Republic of China; ²Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China

Regional Homogeneity (ReHo) hypothesized that the time series of fMRI signals within a functional cluster are similar to each other£¬and it utilized KCC (Kendall's coefficient concordance) to measure this similarity in a voxel-wise way. Abnormal ReHo is possibly related to the changes of temporal aspects of neural activity in regional brain. The present study used ReHo method to study the gender difference in schizophrenia in brain activity at resting state which gave further evidence of gender effect on this illness from a functional perspective.

14:30         3552.     Alterations in BOLD Response and Metabolite Concentrations Support Decreased Glial Enzyme Activity in Major Depression: A Quantitative JPRESS and FMRI Study

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Martin Walter¹, Anke Henning², Simone Grimm³, Rolf Feodor Schulte², Johannes Beck³, Ulrike Dydak², Betina Schnepf², Heinz Böker³, Peter Boesiger², Georg Northoff¹

¹Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany; ²University and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; ³University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Metabolic and functional alterations inside the pgACC were assessed by simultaneous quantitative in-vivo 2D-JPRESS measurements of GABA, glutamate and glutamine levels, fMRI measurements during emotional stimulation and subjective evaluation of the emotional state in healthy volunteers and patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). An altered excitation/inhibition balance was found. Changed neurotransmitter concentrations specifically relate to reduced deactivation, and altered subjective evaluation of emotional intensities and anhedonia scores in the patient group. In addition, a decreased activity of glial enzymes that are mediating the Glu reuptake from the synaptic cleft as well as the transformation of glutamate into glutamine is hypothesized.

15:00         3553.     White Matter Disruption in Early- And Late-Onset Depression: A Tract-Based Spatial Statistical Analysis

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KiSueng Choi¹, Richard Cameron Craddock², Paul E. Holtzheimer¹, Xiaoping Phillip Hu³, Helen S. Mayberg¹

¹Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, USA; ²Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA; ³Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA

We used Track-Based Spatial Statistics to assess differences in WM FA associated with major depressive disorder. 23 subjects were classified into four groups (young & old controls, young early-onset & old late-onset major depression). A significant reduction was found between young patients and young controls in interesting region which is spatially approximate to a target proposed for deep brain stimulation for treatment resistant depression. No significant differences were found between older controls and old patients due to a large variance in FA resulting from brain atrophy. These results suggest that TBSS may be useful for comparing white matter integrity between clinically relevant populations.

13:30         3554.     1H MRS Neurochemical Predictors of Response to Intravenous Ketamine  in Treatment-Resistant Depression

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Sanjay J. Mathew¹, Rebecca B. Price¹, James Murrough¹, Marije Aan Het Rot¹, Kate Collins¹, Xiangling Mao², David Reich¹, Dennis Charney¹, Dikoma C. Shungu²

¹Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA; ²Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, New York, USA

Twelve patients with treatment-resistant major depression were treated with open-label intravenous ketamine, an NMDA antagonist with rapid antidepressant effects. 1H-MRS scans completed prior to treatment revealed a positive association between concentrations of Glx/water in the occipital lobe and pre-treatment depression and anxiety scores. Lower occipital GABA/water was associated with superior treatment response 24 hours post-infusion. These findings add to a growing literature supporting the utility of neuroimaging measures as predictors of response to specific psychiatric treatments.

14:00         3555.     A Combined Functional-Structural Connectivity Analysis of Major Depression Using Joint Independent Components Analysis

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KiSueng Choi¹, Richard Cameron Craddock², Paul E. Holtzheimer¹, Zhi Yang³, Xiaoping Phillip Hu³, Helen S. Mayberg¹

¹Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, USA; ²Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA; ³Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA

We integrated resting state functional connectivity (FC) and fractional anisotropy (FA) data in a joint ICA (Ranking and Averaging ICA by Reproducibility) to better characterize connectivity of the subgenual cingulate cortex in major depression. We examined 9 controls and 4 patients. The FC differences incorporate regions previously identified in a seed PLS analysis of a similar population and FA differences are spatially concordant with FC result areas suggesting that WM tracts connecting these regions may be different in depressed versus control subjects. These results indicate that disease related alterations in functional connectivity may be mediated by WM structural abnormalities.

14:30         3556.     A ¹H Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Study in Adults with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Relationship Between Metabolite Concentrations and Symptom Severity

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Maria Ljungberg¹,², Göran Starck¹, Marie Nilsson, Lars Jönsson, Tord Ivarsson, Stefan Lundberg, Susanne Ribbelin1¹, Sven Ekholm, Arvid Carlsson, Eva Forssell-Aronsson¹, Maria Carlsson

¹Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden

Nine patients with moderate to severe OCD and 16 healthy controls were examined with ¹H MRS (TE30ms) in three locations in the brain; the caudate nucleus, the anterior gyrus cinguli and the occipital cortex. The aim was to explore 1) metabolite concentration differences between patients and healthy volunteers, and 2) the relationship between metabolite concentrations and symptom severity in the patient group. LC Model and PCA-statistics was used for analysis. PCA did not reveal any separation between patients and controls with respect to MRS metabolites. However, PLS, disclosed a strong relationship between some of the metabolites and OCD symptom severity.

15:00         3557.     Regional Gray Matter Volume Abnormalities in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Study with the Automated Region-Of-Interest Measurement Method

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Osamu Togao¹, Takashi Yoshiura¹, Tomoyuki Noguchi¹, Akio Hiwatashi¹, Koji Yamashita¹, Eiki Nagao¹, Tomohiro Nakao¹, Maiko Nabeyama¹, Hiroshi Honda¹

¹Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

The purpose of this study was to assess regional gray matter (GM) volume abnormality in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) using the automated region-of-interest method. The advantage of this technique is to be free from man-made technical bias, which is frequently seen in manual ROI method. We compared the regional GM volume between 24 OCD patients and 27 normal control subjects. This study revealed the GM volume abnormalities in the bilateral orbitofrontal cortex and the right anterior cingulated cortex. Results indicated that these structural abnormalities would be related to the pathophysiology of OCD.

13:30         3558.     Dysfunction of the Fronto-Striatal-Insular Network in Drug-Naive Adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Resting-State FMRI Study

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Xi-Nian Zuo¹,², Chao-Zhe Zhu², Qing-Jiu Cao³, Vesa Kiviniemi⁴, Yu-Feng Wang³, Yu-Feng Zang²

¹Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China; ²Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China; ³Peking University, Beijing, People's Republic of China

In this study, we investigated the fronto-striatal-insular network in boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by using resting-state fMRI, which is believed to reflect spontaneous neuronal activity. Independent component analysis (ICA) was used to reveal the interested network. We found that boys with ADHD showed significantly decreased connectivity in the fronto-striatal-insular network compared to controls. This abnormal network was almost exclusively within the right hemisphere. By using a new technique (resting-state fMRI) and new analysis approach (ICA), the current results provided new evidence of fronto-striatal-insular network abnormality as well as right hemisphere abnormality in ADHD.

14:00         3559.     Decreased Functional Connectivity in the Brodmann Area 10 Network in Heroin Users

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Wenjun Li¹, Chunming Xie²,³, Xiuzhen Di², Haiyan Meng², Jun Xie¹, Zhilin Wu¹, Lin Ma⁴, Zheng Yang², Shi-jing Li¹

¹Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA; ²Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Science, Beijing, People's Republic of China; ³Medical College of Southeast  University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China; ⁴P

Based on the results from Voxel-Based Functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI) using seed ROI approach has been widely used in current neurological research (e.g. in depression, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease). However, a dearth of literature has been published on heroin-related studies. The purpose of this study is to investigate the changes of functional connectivity (FC) changes between non-heroin participants and heroin abusers.  Based on the results from Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM), we focus on how the decreased gray matter concentration in the region of Brodmann Area (BA) 10 could affect the FC in the brain of heroin users.

14:30         3560.     Impaired Frontal Executive Function in Abstinent Heroin Addiction: An FMRI Study

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Li-ping Fu¹, Yan Wang, Shi-jiang Li², Guo-hua Bi¹, Zhi-tong Zou, Xian Xu, En-mao Ye¹, Lin Ma, Zheng Yang¹

¹Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Science, Beijing, People's Republic of China; ²Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA

Heroin impact negatively on the frontal cognitive function after repeated abuse. In this study, an fMRI method with Go-NoGo task was employed to detect the neuroanatomic substrates involved in inhibitory response in 18 healthy controls and to probe the frontal neurocognition of 30 protracted withdrawal heroin dependents. Our results demonstrated midline structure involved in response inhibition and impaired frontal executive function lasted even abstinence for two months. The disrupted frontal executive function maybe the common dominator for various substances abuse, which contribute to the vulnerability of heroin users to the conditioned cues, craving for drug and lead to relapse

fMRI: Acquisition Methods

14:00         3561.     Multi-Echo Parallel Imaging Accelerated FMRI with Susceptibility-Induced Off-Resonance Compensation

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Heiko Schmiedeskamp¹, Rexford David Newbould¹, Klaas Paul Pruessmann², Roland Bammer¹

¹Stanford University, Stanford, California , USA; ²University and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Off-resonance due to susceptibility effects typically results in signal dropouts if long echo times and/or thick slices are used such as for BOLD fMRI. To compensate for these effects, additional z-shim gradients can be applied. Here, parallel imaging shortened readouts allow multi-echo acquisitions, with varying z-shims prior to the echo trains. Whole-brain fMRI measurements can thereby be performed with minimized signal loss in dropout regions and no time penalty.

14:30         3562.     PAID FMRI at 7T - Investigating the Benefits of Multi-Echo EPI at High Field

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Benedikt Andreas Poser¹,², David Gordon Norris¹,²

¹Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands; ²University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

One drawback of commonly the used GE-EPI for functional brain imaging is that only one TE can be used. This implies a compromise in global functional sensitivity as optimal TE varies over the brain, due to considerable spread in gray matter T2*. To overcome this, the use of multi-echo EPI has been advocated, and shown to allow substantial sensitivity increases at 1.5 and 3T for various echo weighting strategies. Here in we investigate the value of parallel-acquired inhomogeneity desensitized (PAID) fMRI at 7T. Initial experiments show that CNR benefits are obtained across the brain, and hat distortion is markedly reduced.

15:00         3563.     Highly Accelerated FMRI: A Feasibility Test of Image Support Reduction Technique

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Feng Huang¹, Hu Cheng², Yu Li¹

¹Invivo Corporation, Gainesville, Florida, USA; ²Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

Feasibility of the application of image support reduction technique for fMRI is reported. Experimental results show that active regions can still be accurately detected at acceleration factor as high as 4 with image support reduction technique. Therefore, image support reduction can be adopted in fMRI to achieve images with higher spatial resolution.

15:30         3564.     Increasing Spatial Coverage for High Resolution FMRI Studies

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