Monthly Archives: January 2009

Fellow’s choices:

G. Zuccoli, D. Santa Cruz, M. Bertolini, A. Rovira, M. Gallucci, C. Carollo, and N. Pipitone
MR Imaging Findings in 56 Patients with Wernicke Encephalopathy: Nonalcoholics May Differ from Alcoholics.
AJNR Am J Neuroradiol first published on October 22, 2008 as doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A1280

As neuroradiologists we are familiar with the MRI findings of Wernicke’s particularly as seen in alcoholic patients. It is becoming clear that this disease may be seen in patients with inadequate intake of vitamin B1, something that may happen particularly in the elderly. In this large series, the authors compared the imaging findings between … Continue reading >>

Fellows Journal Club:

A.T. Vertinsky, N.E. Schwartz, N.J. Fischbein, J. Rosenberg, G.W. Albers, and G. Zaharchuk
Comparison of Multidetector CT Angiography and MR Imaging of Cervical Artery Dissection
http://www.ajnr.org/cgi/content/full/29/9/1753

My impression is that most of us use either CTA or MRA for the diagnosis of acute cervical artery dissections initially but still believe that catheter angiography is the ‘gold standard’. In this retrospective study the authors analyzed images from 18 patients with 25 dissections imaged non-invasively and also rated each vessels on the basis of which imaging technique better displayed the abnormalities. In 11 instances both CTA and MRA were … Continue reading >>

Editor’s choices:

Characterization of aneurysm remnants after… by R. Agid et al.

It is well known that many aneurysms will be incompletely occluded by coils initially or will later recanalize. A non-invasive method would be ideal to identify these aneurysms. Here the authors performed a retrospective study that included residual or recurrent aneurysms (n= 44) measuring more than 2 mm that were imaged with contrast enhanced MRA and catheter DSA. They concluded that in patients with known remnants, MRA was equal to DSA and in some cases even better.

R. Agid, R.A. Willinsky, S.-K. Lee, K.G. TerBrugge, and R.I. Farb… Continue reading >>

Editor’s choice:

1. 1. Weon

   Since the best protocol to identify these abnormalities has not been established, the authors studied 16 patients with transient global amnesia using different b-values and slice thickness. They found that protocols using the thinnest sections and highest b-values identified lesions best.

   Y.C. Weon, J.H. Kim, J.S. Lee, and S.Y. Kim
   Optimal Diffusion-Weighted Imaging Protocol for Lesion Detection in Transient Global Amnesia
   http://www.ajnr.org/cgi/content/full/29/7/1324

2. Bisdas

   Although both CT perfusion and glucose-based PET are used in the diagnosis of head and neck neoplasias, it is not known if the findings of these techniques correlate well with each other. 15

… Continue reading >>