Correlation between fatigue and brain atrophy and lesion load in multiple sclerosis patients independent of disability.
Abstract Background Fatigue is a major problem in multiple sclerosis (MS), and its association with MRI features is debated. Objective To study the correlation between fatigue and lesion load, white matter (WM), and grey matter (GM), in MS patients independent of disability. Methods We studied 222 relapsing remitting MS patients with low disability (scores ≤ 2 at the Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale). Lesion load, WM and GM were measured by fully automated, operator-independent, multi-parametric segmentation method. T1 and T2 lesion volume were also measured by a semi-automated method. Fatigue was assessed by the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), and patients divided in high-fatigue (FS…
T2 Mapping of the Sacroiliac Joints in Patients with Axial Spondyloarthritis
Purpose: To test whether T2 mapping of the sacro-iliac joints (SIJs) might help identifying patients with spondyloarthritis. Method: This study included 20 biologic-naive patients with axial spondyloarthritis (10 females; mean age: 38 ± 9years; range, 19–47) and 27 controls (16 males; mean age = 39 ± 13years; range = 28–71) who prospectively underwent SIJs MRI at 1.5 T, including a multislice multiecho spin-echo sequence. Standard MRIs were reviewed to assess the SIJs according to the Assessment of SpondyloArthritis International Society (ASAS) criteria and SPondyloArthritis Research Consortium of Canada (SPARCC) MRI index. T2 maps obtained from multiecho sequences were used to draw regions…
Brain atrophy and lesion load in a large population of patients with multiple sclerosis
Objective: To measure white matter (WM) and gray matter (GM) atrophy and lesion load in a large population of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) using a fully automated, operator-independent, multiparametric segmentation method. Methods: The study population consisted of 597 patients with MS and 104 control subjects. The MRI parameters were abnormal WM fraction (AWM-f), global WM-f (gWM-f), and GM fraction (GM-f). Results: Significant differences between patients with MS and control subjects included higher AWM-f and reduced gWM-f and GM-f. MRI data showed significant differences between patients with relapsing-remitting and secondary progressive forms of MS. Significant correlations bet…
Brain atrophy evolution and lesion load accrual in multiple sclerosis: a 2-year follow-up study
Background To investigate in a large cohort of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), lesion load and atrophy evolution, and the relationship between clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) correlates of disease progression. Methods Two hundred and sixty-seven patients with MS were studied at baseline and two years later using the same MRI protocol. Abnormal white matter fraction, normal appearing white matter fraction, global white matter fraction, gray matter fraction and whole brain fraction, T2-hyperintense, and T1-hypointense lesions were measured at both time points. Results The majority of patients were clinically stable, whereas MRI-derived brain tissue fractions were signifi…
Corpus callosum involvement: a useful clue for differentiating Fabry Disease from Multiple Sclerosis.
PURPOSE: Multiple sclerosis (MS) has been proposed as a possible differential diagnosis for Fabry disease (FD). The aim of this work was to evaluate the involvement of corpus callosum (CC) on MR images and its possible role as a radiological sign to differentiate between FD and MS. METHODS: In this multicentric study, we retrospectively evaluated the presence of white matter lesions (WMLs) on the FLAIR images of 104 patients with FD and 117 patients with MS. The incidence of CC-WML was assessed in the two groups and also in a subgroup of 37 FD patients showing neurological symptoms. RESULTS: WMLs were detected in 50 of 104 FD patients (48.1%) and in all MS patients. However, a lesion in the…
Radiomic Machine Learning Classifiers in Spine Bone Tumors: A Multi-Software, Multi-Scanner Study
Purpose: Spinal lesion differential diagnosis remains challenging even in MRI. Radiomics and machine learning (ML) have proven useful even in absence of a standardized data mining pipeline. We aimed to assess ML diagnostic performance in spinal lesion differential diagnosis, employing radiomic data extracted by different software. Methods: Patients undergoing MRI for a vertebral lesion were retrospectively analyzed (n = 146, 67 males, 79 females; mean age 63 ± 16 years, range 8-89 years) and constituted the train (n = 100) and internal test cohorts (n = 46). Part of the latter had additional prior exams which constituted a multi-scanner, external test cohort (n = 35). Lesions were la…
MRI radiomics-based machine-learning classification of bone chondrosarcoma.
Abstract Purpose To evaluate the diagnostic performance of machine learning for discrimination between low-grade and high-grade cartilaginous bone tumors based on radiomic parameters extracted from unenhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods We retrospectively enrolled 58 patients with histologically-proven low-grade/atypical cartilaginous tumor of the appendicular skeleton (n = 26) or higher-grade chondrosarcoma (n = 32, including 16 appendicular and 16 axial lesions). They were randomly divided into training (n = 42) and test (n = 16) groups for model tuning and testing, respectively. All tumors were manually segmented on T1-weighted and T2-weighted images by drawing bidimensiona…
T2-mapping of the sacroiliac joints at 1.5 Tesla: a feasibility and reproducibility study
Objective: To evaluate the reproducibility of T2 relaxation time measurements of the sacroiliac joints at 1.5 T. Materials and methods: Healthy volunteers underwent an oblique axial multislice multiecho spin-echo sequence of the sacroiliac joints at 1.5 T. Regions of interest were manually drawn using a dedicated software by two musculoskeletal radiologists to include the cartilaginous part of the sacroiliac joints. A senior radiologist performed the measurement twice, while a resident measured once. Intra- and inter-observer reproducibility was tested using the Bland-Altman method. Association between sex and T2 relaxation times was tested using the Mann-Whitney U test. Correlation between…