Objectives: We report the case of a 16-year-old patient with progressive generalized choreo-dystonia that appeared two months after a suicide attempt by hanging associated with a cardiorespiratory ...arrest. An initial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scan was judged normal by radiologists. Discordance between clinical presentation and morphological imaging led to the hypothesis of a psychogenic dystonia but striatal lesions were suspected by neurologists.Methods: A second MRI high field was performed and the patient also underwent 123I-fluopane single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). MRI and SPECT fusion images were analysed.Results: The second MRI failed to reveal any lesions involving the basal ganglia. 123I-fluopane-SPECT, however, highlighted bilateral posterior putaminal presynaptic dopaminergic denervation. Post hoc analysis of MRI and SPECT fusion images confirmed bilateral posterior putamen lesions, with low signal intensity on DWI, confirming the diagnosis of postanoxic generalized dystonia.Conclusions: We report this case to highlight the utility of multimodal imaging in diagnosis of bilateral lesions in difficult neurologic disorders where there is discordance between the clinical presentation and morphological brain imaging.
To prospectively compare the agreement between digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and time-resolved magnetic resonance (MR) angiography with sensitivity encoding (SENSE) in combination with ...keyhole acquisition and contrast material-enhanced robust-timing angiography (CENTRA) k-space sampling techniques for the characterization of intracranial arteriovenous malformations (AVMs).
The institutional review board approved the study; informed consent was obtained from all patients (or their parents). Twenty-eight patients (15 male, 13 female; mean age, 38.6 years; age range, 16-61 years) with 29 previously diagnosed, untreated intracranial AVMs who were referred for stereotactic gamma knife radiosurgery were evaluated. Preinterventional imaging included intraarterial DSA and time-resolved MR angiography. The time-resolved MR angiography sequence included SENSE with a 1.5-T imager and was optimized by applying keyhole acquisition and CENTRA techniques. Time-resolved MR angiograms were reviewed by two independent raters and compared with DSA images with regard to arterial feeders, nidus size, and venous drainage. kappa Statistics were applied to determine interobserver and intermodality agreement.
MR angiography enabled time-resolved (1.7 seconds per volume) visualization of cerebral vessels from axis to vertex at high spatial resolution (true voxel size, 1 x 1 x 2 mm). All 25 nidi detected at intraarterial DSA were visualized at time-resolved MR angiography. Intermodality agreement was excellent for arterial feeders (kappa = 0.91; 95% confidence interval CI: 0.786, 1.000) and venous drainage (kappa = 0.94; 95% CI: 0.814, 1.000) and was good for nidus size (kappa = 0.76; 95% CI: 0.562, 0.950).
The agreement (good to excellent) between time-resolved MR angiographic and DSA findings suggests that time-resolved MR angiography is a reliable tool for the characterization of intracranial AVMs with respect to arterial feeders, nidus size, and venous drainage.
To report the prevalence of silent brain infarcts (SBI) at magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before and after surgery for asymptomatic high grade carotid stenosis.
This is a single center ...retrospective observational study. Asymptomatic patients who underwent carotid endarterectomy between October 2012 and October 2014 were included. The preoperative assessment included a Doppler and a computed tomographic (CT) scan dating less than 3 months. A neurological examination was performed during the anesthesia consultation and in the 15 days before surgery. An MRI angiography was performed the day before and 3 days after surgery and was analyzed by an independent neuroradiologist. Preoperative analysis focused on the presence of ischemic events at MRI. The type of plaque, the supra aortic trunk lesions, and the quality of the circle of Willis were analyzed using Doppler and CT scanning. Postoperatively, we searched for signs of postoperative ischemic events at MRI.
Forty-one patients were included (85.4% of men), and the mean age was 72.4 ± 8.3 years. We noted 7 (17.1%) contralateral stenoses (>50%) and 2 (4.9%) contralateral thromboses, 6 (14.6%) vertebral stenoses, and 7 (17.1%) abnormalities of the circle of Willis. The morphological analysis described 6 unstable plaques including 4 ulcerated, 1 pseudodissection, and 1 intraplaque hemorrhage. Preoperatively, we noted the presence of 21 (51.2%) ischemic lesions including 9 (21.9%) multiple lacunar ischemic events and 12 (29.3%) silent arterial territory infarcts. Eversion was performed for all patients except for 6 (14.6%), for whom a bypass was necessary. No deaths or major complications were observed in the 30 postoperative days. Postoperatively, MRI showed 3 (7.3%) asymptomatic recent ischemic strokes, 1 ipsilateral middle cerebral artery (MCA) stroke, and 2 contralateral (cerebellar and MCA) strokes.
Patients with asymptomatic significant carotid stenosis show many preoperative SBI indicating a significant embolic risk. It is difficult to conclude about intraoperative embolic risk, but we hope that more data could demonstrate the importance of MRI for the preoperative evaluation of carotid plaques and brain parenchyma, to identify high-risk embolic patients.
BackgroundCoiling is the first-line treatment for the management of unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs), but delayed thromboembolic events (TEEs) can occur after such treatment. ARETA (Analysis ...of Recanalization after Endovascular Treatment of Intracranial Aneurysm) is a prospective multicenter study conducted to analyze aneurysm recanalization. We analyzed delayed TEEs in the UIA subgroup.MethodsSixteen neurointerventional departments prospectively enrolled patients treated for ruptured and unruptured aneurysms between December 2013 and May 2015. Participant demographics, aneurysm characteristics, and endovascular techniques were recorded. Data were analyzed from participants with UIA treated by coiling or balloon-assisted coiling. We assessed the rates, timing, management, clinical outcomes, and risk factors for delayed TEEs using univariable and multivariable analyses.ResultsThe rate of delayed TEEs was 2.4% (95% CI 1.0% to 4.6%) in patients with unruptured aneurysms, with all events occurring in the week following the procedure. In multivariate analysis, two factors were associated with delayed TEEs: autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD): 20.0% in patients with ADPKD vs 1.9% in patients without ADPKD (OR 27.3 (95% CI 3.9 to 190.2), p=0.0008) and post-procedure aneurysm remnant: 9.4% in patients with post-procedure aneurysm remnant vs 1.6% in patients with adequate occlusion (OR 9.9 (95% CI 1.0 to 51.3), p=0.006). We describe modalities of management as well as clinical outcomes.ConclusionsDelayed TEE is a relatively rare complication after coiling of UIAs. In this series, all occurred in the week following the initial procedure. Two factors were associated with delayed TEE: ADPKD and aneurysm remnant at procedure completion.Clinical trial registration NCT01942512
Although MRI is increasingly proposed to investigate composition of carotid atherosclerosis, its reproducibility has rarely been addressed. We assessed the reproducibility of MRI for the ...identification and quantification of carotid atherosclerotic plaque components.
Using published criteria, 2 readers independently analyzed the carotid MRI (1.5-T MR units with a 4-channel phased-array surface coil, Machnet) of 85 consecutive patients with symptomatic (40% to 69% according to NASCET method) or asymptomatic (60% or greater) carotid artery stenosis enrolled in an ongoing prognostic study. One reader reevaluated all images. Fibrous cap was also secondarily identified independently on T2-weighted and time-of-flight (TOF) images.
Intraobserver agreement was substantial for the identification of calcifications (kappa kappa=0.70; 95% CI: 0.54 to 0.86) and lipid-rich/necrotic core (LR/NC) (kappa=0.69; 0.31 to 0.86), almost perfect for hemorrhages (kappa=0.82; 0.68 to 0.96), and moderate (kappa=0.58; 0.27 to 0.88) and fair (kappa=0.33; 0.09 to 0.56) for fibrous cap identification on T2-weighted and TOF images, respectively. Interobserver agreement was substantial for the identification of calcifications (kappa=0.74; 0.59 to 0.89) and hemorrhages (kappa=0.62; 0.43 to 0.81), and moderate for LR/NC (kappa=0.58; 0.20 to 0.95). Agreement was fair for fibrous cap identification on both T2-weighted (kappa=0.28; -0.03 to 0.59) and on TOF images (kappa=0.26; 0.04 to 0.48). Agreement between T2 and TOF images for fibrous cap identification was slight (kappa=0.16; 0.01 to 0.31). Intra- and interobserver reproducibility for quantitative area measurements of vessel, lumen, plaque, LR/NC, and fibrous components was high with intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from 0.73 to 0.99. However, for the LR/NC, the interval delimited by the Bland-Altman graphs was wide in comparison to the mean.
Vessel and plaque quantification is reproducible. Reproducibility of MRI for identifying and quantifying carotid plaque components is overall acceptable, but there is still significant variability that should be taken into account in the design of prognosis studies and clinical trials. Reproducibility for fibrous cap identification needs to be improved.
Abstract Objective To compare 3D time-of-flight MR angiography (TOF-MRA) at 3 Tesla (3 T) with digital subtraction angiography (DSA) for the evaluation of intracranial aneurysm occlusion after ...endovascular coiling. Methods In a prospective study, 51 consecutive patients (25 females, 26 males; median age, 51 years) with 51 saccular aneurysms treated with endovascular coiling underwent simultaneous DSA and 3 T TOF-MRA at follow-up. DSA and TOF-MRA images were analyzed independently by two senior neuroradiologists. Findings were assigned to 1 of 3 categories in the Raymond classification: complete obliteration, residual neck or residual aneurysm. Agreement between observers and techniques was evaluated using κ statistics. Results DSA images were not interpretable for one patient. Interobserver agreement was determined as excellent for DSA ( κ = 0.86) and TOF-MRA ( κ = 0.80). After reaching a consensus, DSA follow-up showed 26 (51%) complete obliterations, 20 (39%) residual necks and 4 (8%) residual aneurysms. TOF-MRA showed 23 (45%) complete obliterations, 22 (43%) residual necks and 6 (12%) residual aneurysms. Comparison between TOF-MRA and DSA showed excellent agreement between the techniques ( κ = 0.86). In the four cases that were misclassified, TOF-MRA findings were assigned to a higher class than for DSA. Conclusion TOF-MRA at 3 T is at least as efficient as DSA for the evaluation of intracranial aneurysm occlusion after endovascular treatment with detachable coils. We suggest that TOF-MRA at 3 T might be used as the primary method for imaging follow-up of coiled intracranial aneurysms.
To assess the safety and efficacy of radiosurgery for the management of arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) in the pediatric age group.
We reviewed data from 100 children (44 girls and 56 boys) ...presenting a total of 103 AVMs treated by linear accelerator radiosurgery between December 1988 and May 2002. The median patient age was 12 years (range, 2-16 yr). Sixty-seven AVMs (65%) were in functional locations and 30% were inoperable. The mean AVM volume was 2.8 cm3 (range, 0.9-21.3 cm3). The mean marginal dose was 23 Gy (range, 15-25 Gy) and required between one and four isocenters. Fifty patients received multimodal treatments with embolization and/or surgery before and/or after radiosurgery. Given that 16 patients underwent two sessions of radiosurgery and one patient received three sessions, a total of 119 radiosurgical treatments were delivered. We maintained our clinical and angiographic follow-up for at least 36 months after irradiation or until the complete obliteration of the AVM was confirmed by angiography (our sole end point for judging clinical efficacy). Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed to determine predictive factors for obliteration.
Complete obliteration was achieved for 72 AVMs (70%). The permanent neurological deficit rate was 5%. One patient died because of rebleeding. None of our patients presented bleeding after an angiographically verified AVM obliteration. The main predictive factors for obliteration were low AVM volume and no previous embolization. Moreover, the younger the patient, the more effective the radiosurgery seemed to be.
Radiosurgery is a safe and effective treatment for AVMs in the pediatric age group. One criterion for success was the use of a prescription dose similar to that used with adult populations.
Summary Background and purpose Endovascular mechanical thrombectomy is emerging as a promising therapeutic approach for acute ischemic stroke. This study was aimed at identifying factors influencing ...outcomes after thrombectomy with a Solitaire stent device. Materials and methods Forty-five consecutive patients treated with thrombectomy using Solitaire FR were retrospectively included. Clinical, imaging and logistic variables were analyzed. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify variables influencing clinical outcome, based on discharge NIHSS score change and mRS at 3 months. Results Patient mean age and initial NIHSS score was 58 years (range 24–88) and 17 (range 6–32), respectively. An MRI was performed for 80% of patients, showing severe DWI lesion for 28% of patients and associated FLAIR hyperintensity for 58% of patients. Mean time from symptom onset to recanalization was 299 min for the 32 ACO and 473 min for the 13 PCO. Angiographic efficacy (TICI 2b-3) was achieved for 93% of patients and good clinical outcomes at discharge and at 3 months (mRS ≤ 2) were achieved for 49% and 58% of patients, respectively. Independent prognostic factors for predicting good clinical outcomes at discharge were a short time to recanalization and FLAIR negativity. At 3 months, they were a short time to recanalization and patient age. DWI lesion severity was an associated prognostic factor. Conclusion Two main prognostic factors for predicting a good clinical outcome after thrombectomy at 3 months were short time from symptom onset to recanalization and patient age.
PDF
