There is significant variability in ADC values depending on the coil systems, imagers, vendors, and field strengths used for MR imaging. The relative ADC values may be more suitable than absolute ADC values for evaluating diffusion abnormalities in patients enrolled in multicenter acute ischemic stroke trials.

Differentiation of hepatocellular carcinomas from adenomatous hyperplastic nodules (AHNs) is important for the early and precise detection of hepatocellular carcinoma in the cirrhotic liver. For this purpose, the authors compared findings on magnetic resonance (MR) images of surgically resected AHNs (n = 7) with those of hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 47). AHNs were divided into two histologic groups: those without atypia (n = 5) and those with atypical hepatocytes or malignant foci (n = 2). All AHNs without atypia were hyperintense on T1-weighted spin-echo images and hypointense on T2-weighted spin-echo images relative to the surrounding liver. However, almost all hepatocellular carcinomas, except for two lesions with massive coagulation necrosis, were demonstrated as hyperintense on T2-weighted images. MR imaging may be useful in the differentiation of AHN without atypia from hepatocellular carcinoma in the cirrhotic liver.

Citation information: Boucard CC, Hanekamp S, C ´ urč ic´-ic´ic´-Blake B, Ida M, Yoshida M & Cornelissen FW. Neurodegeneration beyond the primary visual pathways in a population with a high incidence of normal-pressure glaucoma. Abstract Purpose: Glaucoma is the most common age-related neurodegenerative eye disease in western society. It is an insidious disease that, when untreated or detected too late, leads inevitably to blindness. An outstanding issue is whether glaucoma should be considered exclusively an eye disease or also a brain disease. To further examine it, we used Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) to study white matter integrity in a Japanese glaucoma population. This population has a very high incidence of normal-pressure glaucoma, in which optic nerve damage occurs in the absence of the elevated eye pressure that characterises the more common form of glaucoma. Methods: We performed DTI in 30 participants with normal-pressure glaucoma and 21 age-matched healthy controls. We used voxel-wise tract-based spatial statistics to compare fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity of the white matter of the brain between patients and control group. Whole-brain and region of interest-based analyses served to find associations between diffusion indices and clinical measures of glaucomatous damage. Results: Fractional Anisotropy was significantly lower in glaucoma patients in a cluster in the right occipital lobe (p < 0.05; family-wise error-corrected) comprising fibres of both the optic radiation and the forceps major. Additional analysis confirmed bilateral involvement of the optic radiations and forceps major and additionally revealed damage to the corpus callosum and parietal lobe (p < 0.09; family-wise error-corrected). The region of interest-based analysis revealed a positive association between Fractional Anisotropy of the optic radiation and optic nerve damage. Conclusions: In this specific population, glaucoma is associated with lower Fractional Anisotropy in the optic radiations, forceps major and corpus callosum. We interpret these reductions as evidence for white matter degeneration in these loci. In particular, the degeneration of the corpus callosum suggests the presence of neurodegeneration of the brain beyond what can be explained on the basis of propagated retinal and pre-geniculate damage. We discuss how this finding links to the emerging view that a brain component that is independent from the eye damage plays a role in the aetiology of glaucoma.

Calcifications and/or obstructions of the veins of the colonic wall and adjacent mesentery and collateral formation, edematous thickening of the colonic wall, and increased density in the fatty tissue of the surrounding mesentery were features of this rare entity. However, in the early stage of the disease, no definite calcification of the affected veins was observed.

Inversion-prepared PETRA was found to be viable as a quiet alternative to MPRAGE for contrast-enhanced T1-weighted studies of intracranial tumors.