Shohei Mizushima¹, Takahiko Mine¹, Masashi Abe¹, Hiromitsu Hayashi², Masahiro Fujii³, Tetsuro Sekine⁴, Taro Yokoyama¹, Shinpei Ikeda¹, Seigoh Happoh¹, and Shin-ichiro Kumita^2
1Radiology, Nippon Medical School Chiba Hokusoh Hospital, Inzai, Chiba, Japan, ²Radiology, Nippon Medical School Hospital, Tokyo, Japan, ³Cardiovascular surgery, Nippon Medical School Chiba Hokusoh Hospital, Inzai, Chiba, Japan, ⁴Radiology, Nippon Medical School Musashikosugi Hospital, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan

The Slow-Infusion MRA with SPGR provided the higher detectability of the AKA with whole patients, all AD patients, and with the AD patients whose AKA originating from false lumen in comparison with CTA.

Zhixin Li^1,2,3, Dongbiao Sun^1,2,3, Yue Wu^1,2,3, Chen Ling^4,5, Jing An⁶, Yun Yuan^4,5, Zhaoxia Wang^4,5, Rong Xue^1,2,3, Yan Zhuo^1,2,3, and Zihao Zhang^1,2,3
1State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, Beijing, China, ²University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, Beijing, China, ³The Innovation Center of Excellence on Brain Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, Beijing, China, ⁴Department of Neurology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, 100034, China, Beijing, China, ⁵Beijing Key Laboratory of Neurovascular Disease Discovery, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, 100034, China, Beijing, China, ⁶Siemens Shenzhen Magnetic Resonance Ltd., Shenzhen, China, Shenzhen, China

Time-of-flight MR angiography at 7T allowed noninvasive visualization of the lenticulostriate artery (LSA). However, vasculature modeling of LSA remained challenging due to limited signal-to-noise ratio and pulsation artifact. In this study, we introduced an automated vascular segmentation and tracing method based on small-patch convolutional neural network (CNN), random forest, and multiple filtering. This method outperformed existing U-NET based methods and found radius changes of LSA branches in patients with cerebral small vessel diseases (cSVD). The automated quantification of LSA vasculatures will potentially facilitate diagnosis and clinical studies of cSVD.

Satomu Hanamatsu¹, Kazuhiro Murayama², Yoshiharu Ohno³, Kaori Yamamoto⁴, Yuki Obama¹, Hirotaka Ikeda¹, Hiroyuki Nagata¹, Masato Ikedo⁴, Masao Yui⁴, Akiyoshi Iwase⁵, and Hiroshi Toyama^1
1Radiology, Fujita Health University, School of Medicine, Toyoake, Japan, ²Joint Research Laboratory of Advanced Medical Imaging, Fujita Health University, School of Medicine, Toyoake, Japan, ³Radiology, Joint Research Laboratory of Advanced Medical Imaging, Fujita Health University, School of Medicine, Toyoake, Japan, ⁴Canon Medical Systems Corporation, Otawara, Japan, ⁵Radiology, Fujita Health University, Hospital, Toyoake, Japan

To the best of our knowledges, there are no major papers that assess the influence of Fast 3D wheel to cerebral MR angiography in patients with cerebrovascular diseases.  We hypothesize that “Fast 3D wheel (Fast 3Dw)” has a potential to reduce examination time without degradation of image quality and aneurysm or vascular evaluations, when compared with PI.  The purpose of this study was to directly compare the efficacy of Fast 3Dw for cerebral MR angiography with conventional PI in patients with cerebral aneurysm.   

Xiangcheng Hao¹, Shaoyu Wang², Huapeng Zhang², He Zhao¹, and Yang Gao^1
1Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China, ²MR Scientific Marketing, Siemens Healthineers, Shanghai, China

 We compare three MRA techniques between CS-TOF, PI-TOF and PETRA-TOF about imaging quality and speed, and also compared the effects of different acceleration factor coefficients (4.6×, 7.2×, 10.3×) on CS-TOF-MRA images on a 3T MR scanner. 

Wenyun Liu¹, Lei Zhang¹, Cheng Li², Yuejiao Sun¹, Ying Qiu¹, Yi Zhu³, Ke Jiang³, Shuo Wang¹, and Huimao Zhang^1
1Department of Radiology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China, ²Department of Cardiovascular center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China, ³Philips Healthcare, Beijing, China

The conventional 3D whole-heart free-breathing coronary MR angiography suffers from a long scan time. However, using very high acceleration factors leads to degradation of image quality due to insufficient noise removal. In this study, we use Compressed-SENSE Artificial Intelligence (CS-AI) framework to acquire highly accelerated 3D non-contrast-enhanced mDixon water-fat separation whole-heart CMRA. The result shows that CS-AI reconstruction can significantly decrease scan time with sufficient image quality compared to Compressed-SENSE(CS) and might be clinically useful in assessment of coronary artery disease.

Masahiro Takizawa¹, Takashi Nishihara¹, and Chikako Moriwake^1
1Radiation Diagnostic System Division, FUJIFILM Healthcare Corporation, Kashiwa-shi, Japan

Cylinder-shaped pre-saturation pulse train is developed for non-contrast enhanced spatially-selective and time-resolved vessel imaging. The target vessel is selected by cylinder-shaped pre-saturation, and the dynamics of blood flow in the target vessel is observed by changing the number of applied pre-saturation pulses. The developed pulse train was demonstrated to visualize dynamics of a target pulmonary vessel in the lung.

Fan Liu¹, Yu Wei¹, Qiurong Yu¹, Hewei Wang², Dazhi Yin³, Guojun Xu¹, Miao Guo¹, Ling Liu¹, Qianwen Li¹, and Mingxia Fan^1
1Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, School of Physics and Electronic Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China, ²Department of rehabilitation, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, ³School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

Previous DTI studies mainly detected partial ROIs or mean diffusion profiles of corticospinal tract (CST), few revealed changes along CST trajectory. We used Automated Fiber Quantification (AFQ) derived from DTI to investigate whether diffusion parameters changes were localized to its specific regions or spread throughout. The results showed AFQ traced out a clearer picture of the damaged CST along its trajectory in patients with hemiplegia after stroke. Furthermore, the severity of several damaged CST segments was correlated with motor scores, possibly providing more accurate and reliable "target" regions for assessing clinical prognosis and the efficacy of motor rehabilitation.

Niane Ma¹, XiaoLing Zhang¹, Xiaoyan Lei¹, Min Tang¹, Ling Li¹, Xuejiao Yan¹, and Kai Ai^2
1Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi’an, China, ²Philips healthcare, Xi’an, China

The aim of this study was to construct a diagnostic model of recurrent stroke with the combination of high resolution MRI imaging characteristics and clinical parameters. The vessel wall characteristics of plaque and clinical data were compared between stroke and recurrent stroke patients. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was explored, seven risk factors (plaque burden, fibrous cap, hyperdense, hemorrhage, HbA1, low density lipoprotein and smoke) were independent risk factors for recurrent stroke patients. Then a nomogram model was established for risk prediction.

Shihui Zhou^1,2, Zhiqiang Wei³, Yulong Qi⁴, Li Yi³, Siqi Cai^1,2, Chunxiang Jiang^1,2, and Lijuan Zhang*^1
1Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China, ²University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, ³Department of Neurology, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China, ⁴Department of Radiology, Beijing University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China

Venous response has been overlooked in the characterization of ischemic stroke (IS). In this study, vein density (VD) and oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) were assessed as indices of venous response for both the ipsi- and contra-lesional hemispheres in a cohort of patient with corona radiata IS using susceptibility MR imaging. Relative VD and OEF (ratios between the averaged ipsilesional and contralesional measurements) increased from early (1-7 days) to late subacute stages of IS (7-15 days). Patients with lesion in right corona radiata showed more extensive interhemispheric difference in OEF, suggesting an anatomy specific distribution of the venous response after IS.

Hajime Yokota¹, Takayuki Sakai², Masami Yoneyama³, and Takashi Uno^1
1Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Radiation Oncology, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan, ²Department of Radiology, Eastern Chiba Medical Center, Togane, Japan, ³Philips Japan, Tokyo, Japan

Diffusion-relaxation matrix (DRM) sequence consists of dual-echo single-shot DW-EPI. DRM was able to detect acute cerebral infarction as well as conventional DWI, and can simultaneously acquire ADC and T2 values. T2 values in the infarcted area correlated significantly with time since stroke onset, whereas ADC did not. In addition, T2 values could predict whether the infarct was within 4.5, 6, or 16 hours, which are the thresholds for thrombolysis and endovascular treatment.

Po-Yu Chan¹, Chiao-Ching Huang², Chia-Feng Lu¹, Bao-Yu Hsieh³, and Yu-Chieh Jill Kao^1
1Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan, ²Department of Pediatrics, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, ³Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang-Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan

To stratify neonates with different outcomes of hypoxic ischemia (HI) within few hours after birth for the subsequent therapeutic hypothermia, the spatiotemporal profile of MR measurements between two severity outcome groups was depicted as early at 6 h after insult. Changes in volumes, ADC and FA values were observed among different brain regions, suggesting different susceptibility of brain regions to HI in the acute phase of HI.

Tongjia Gan¹, Wenzhen Zhu¹, Jingjing Shi¹, and Wenzhi Lv^2
1Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, ²Department of Artificial Intelligence, Julei Technology Company, Wuhan, China

This study aims to diagnose objectively term neonate hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) by using deep learning network to extract deep information from multiple modalities of conventional magnetic resonance (MR) images. Neonate HIE diagnosis accuracy is restricted to lesion diversity, MR images quality, high interobserver variability. The network got high diagnosis accuracy in the ROC curve. The network could detect severe neonate HIE with characteristic appearance such as basal ganglia injury and periventricular leukomalacia. The network can help diagnosis neonate HIE objectively without the effect of different radiologist experience and contribute to risk stratification and clinical decision making.

Christina Andica¹, Koji Kamagata¹, Wataru Uchida¹, Kaito Takabayashi¹, Yuya Saito¹, Keigo Shimoji^1,2, Hideyoshi Kaga^3,4, Yuki Someya³, Yoshifumi Tamura^3,4, Ryuzo Kawamori^3,4, Hirotaka Watada^3,4, Masaaki Hori^1,5, and Shigeki Aoki^1
1Department of Radiology, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, ²Department of Radiology, Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital and Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, Japan, ³Sportology Center, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, ⁴Department of Metabolism & Endocrinology, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, ⁵Department of Radiology, Toho University Omori Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan

We performed fixel-based analysis, which implements the Multi-Shell Multi-Tissue Constrained Spherical Deconvolution method, to investigate the effect of metabolic syndrome (MetS) on fiber-specific white matter (WM) integrity and assess its association with MetS-related components or cognitive or motor functions. Our findings provide evidence of WM degeneration, as reflected by reduced microstructural fiber density and macrostructural fiber bundle cross-section, in regions associated with cognitive and motor functions in MetS. We also observed reduced fiber density in the corticospinal tract in preMetS. Finally, our findings clarified visceral fat accumulation, insulin resistance, and arterial stiffness as risk factors for WM alterations in MetS.

Wen-Ting Lan¹, Yue-Fei Wu², Hui Zhang¹, Xin-Zhong Ruan¹, Yi Huang³, Xiao-Jing Li⁴, and Yunzhu Wu^5
1Department of Radiology, Ningbo First Hospital, Ningbo Hospital of Zhejiang University, Ningbo, China, ²Department of Neurology, Ningbo First Hospital, Ningbo, China, ³Department of Neurosurgery, Ningbo First Hospital, Ningbo, China, ⁴Department of Gerontology, Ningbo First Hospital, Ningbo, China, ⁵MR Scientific Marketing, SIEMENS Healthineers, Shanghai, China

In this study, we applied quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and venous oxygen saturation measurement in acute ischemic stroke patients who took ginkgo biloba extract (EGb 761) treatment. EGb 761’s secondary prevention effectiveness of ischemic stroke patients with cerebral microbleeds was similar to Aspirin. Furthermore, Ginkgo biloba extract could not only improve neuroprotective efficiency and prognosis by increasing oxygen saturation of the vein near infarction, but also could reduce the incidence of adverse side effects such as gastrointestinal ulcers and bleeding usually caused by Aspirin. 

Simin Lin¹, PuYeh Wu², and Hengyu Zhao^1
1Xiamen Cardiovascular Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, China, ²GE Healthcare, Beijing, China

Coronary heart disease is an urgent, rapidly-developing disease with high disability and mortality. Previous studies indicated that CHD patients exhibited an increased risk of mild cognitive and emotional dysfunction. Here we collected rs-fMRI data to assess global brain activity in CHD patients and controls by measuring fALFF. We demonstrated that CHD patients occur abnormal brain activity in left precentral/postcentral gyrus and right inferior cerebellum, which is mainly related to sensorimotor network and pain processing. Spontaneous brain activity abnormalities may contribute to understanding underlying neurological mechanisms of CHD.