MR neurography for the evaluation of CIDP

Introduction: To visualize peripheral nerves in patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), we used MR imaging. We also quantified the volumes of the brachial and lumbar plexus and their nerve roots. Methods: Thirteen patients with CIDP and 12 healthy volunteers were enrolled. Whole‐body MR neurography based on diffusion‐weighted whole‐body imaging with background body signal suppression (DWIBS) was performed. Peripheral nerve volumes were calculated from serial axial MR images. Results: The peripheral nervous system was visualized with 3‐dimensional reconstruction. Volumes ranged from 8.7 to 49.5 cm³/m² in the brachial plexus and nerve roots and from 10.2 to 53.5 cm³/m² in the lumbar plexus and nerve roots. Patients with CIDP had significantly larger volumes than controls (P < 0.05), and volume was positively correlated with disease duration. Conclusions: MR neurography and the measurement of peripheral nerve volume are useful for diagnosing and assessing CIDP. Muscle Nerve 55 : 483–489, 2017     

Role of combined DWIBS/3D-CE-T1w whole-body MRI in tumor staging: Comparison with PET-CT

Objectives

To assess the diagnostic performance of whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) by diffusion-weighted whole-body imaging with background body signal suppression (DWIBS) in malignant tumor detection and the potential diagnostic advantages in generating fused DWIBS/3D-contrast enhanced T1w (3D-CE-T1w) images.

Methods

45 cancer patients underwent 18F-FDG PET-CT and WB-MRI for staging purpose. Fused DWIBS/3D-CE T1w images were generated off-line. 3D-CE-T1w, DWIBS images alone and fused with 3D-CE T1w were compared by two readers groups for detection of primary diseases and local/distant metastases. Diagnostic performance between the three WB-MRI data sets was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Imaging exams and histopathological results were used as standard of references.

Results

Areas under the ROC curves of DWIBS vs. 3D-CE-T1w vs. both sequences in fused fashion were 0.97, 0.978, and 1.00, respectively. The diagnostic performance in tumor detection of fused DWIBS/3D-CE-T1w images were statistically superior to DWIBS (p < 0.001) and 3D-CE-T1w (p ≤ 0.002); while the difference between DWIBS and 3D-CE-T1w did not show statistical significance difference. Detection rates of malignancy did not differ between WB-MRI with DWIBS and 18F-FDG PET-CT.

Conclusion

WB-MRI with DWIBS is to be considered as alternative tool to conventional whole-body methods for tumor staging and during follow-up in cancer patients.     

Diffusion-weighted whole-body MRI with background body signal suppression: technical improvements at 3.0 T

Purpose:

To improve image quality of diffusion‐weighted body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with background body signal suppression (DWIBS) at 3.0 T.

Materials and Methods:

In 30 patients and eight volunteers, a diffusion‐weighted spin‐echo echo‐planar imaging sequence with short TI inversion recovery (STIR) fat suppression was applied and repeated using slice‐selective gradient reversal (SSGR) and/or dual‐source parallel radiofrequency (RF) transmission (TX). The quality of diffusion‐weighted images and gray scale inverted maximum intensity projections (MIP) were visually assessed by intraindividual comparison with respect to the level of fat suppression and signal homogeneity. Moreover, the contrast between lesions/lymph nodes and background (C_lb) was analyzed in the MIP reconstructions.

Results:

By combining STIR with SSGR, fat suppression was significantly improved (P < 0.001) and C_lb was increased two times. The use of TX allowed the reduction of acquisition time and improved image quality with regard to signal homogeneity (P < 0.001) and fat suppression (P = 0.005).

Conclusion:

DWIBS at 3.0 T can be improved by using SSGR and TX. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2012;456‐461. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.