Amy Argus, MD; Mary C. Mahoney, MD

Mammography is the primary modality used for imaging the breast. However, it has known limitations. Dynamic contrast-enhanced breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides superior sensitivity to detect breast cancer and, when used in the appropriate clinical setting, it has become a useful adjunct to mammography.

Mammography is the primary modality used for imaging the breast. However, it has known limitations. Dynamic contrast-enhanced breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides superior sensitivity to detect breast cancer and, when used in the appropriate clinical setting, it has become a useful adjunct to mammography. Overlap in the MRI appearance of some benign and malignant diseases limits the specificity of breast MRI. The false-positive findings which result then prompt additional imaging and/or biopsies for benign disease. This, combined with the higher cost and limited availability of breast MRI vs. conventional imaging, requires appropriate use of the imaging modality. The American Cancer Society has outlined recommendations for the use of breast MRI for breast cancer screening and the American College of Radiology practice guidelines include 12 indications for the performance of breast MRI.^[1,2]

[Read more…]

George D. Lundberg, MD

Cervical spine injury can have very serious consequences and can be difficult to diagnose. Five investigators in Wisconsin with a meta-analysis selected 5 prospective or retrospective published diagnostic protocol results that included magnetic resonance imaging. They studied reports of 464 victims of blunt trauma with clinically suspicious or unevaluatable cervical spines. Clinical follow-up was the gold standard. Sensitivity of MRI for cervical spine abnormalities was 97%, with a negative predictive value of 100% and zero false negatives; specificity was 99% with a positive predictive value of 94%; 97 patients, that is, 21%, had abnormalities by MRI that were not found by radiographs or CT. This study, reported in 2008 in The Journal of Trauma,^[1] establishes MRI as the new gold standard for conclusively excluding cervical spine injury in a patient with blunt trauma.

Maria Grazia Bruzzone; Marica Eoli; Valeria Cuccarini; Marina Grisoli; Lorella Valletta; Gaetano Finocchiaro

In recent years the amount of information concerning the genetics and the biology of gliomas, and particularly of glioblastoma multiforme, increased steadily. Such an increase has been paralleled by the technological progress of MRI. The merging of these scientific areas, as summarized in this review, is helping the stratification of glioma patients for clinical trials and their clinical follow-up. Although available therapeutic options appear limited in number, it is likely that in the next 5 years, both as a consequence of the increased knowledge due to genomic sequencing of hundreds of glioblastoma specimens and to continuous improvements of MRI, new perspectives will be available for these patients, with a sizable impact on their prognosis.

Introduction

Gliomas, the most frequent tumors occurring in the CNS, are defined and graded on the basis of histological features, and pathology is fundamental to predict prognosis and guide the correct patient management.^[1] However, pathological diagnosis can be rather subjective and allows considerable interobserver variability, especially in the case of gliomas with mixed histological features.^[2] In addition, gliomas of identical histology may be associated with different genetic alterations. Therefore, owing to biological heterogeneity, the histological diagnosis and expected clinical outcome do not match in a significant number of patients and the histological examination does not distinguish tumors responding or not responding to the therapy. Throwing light upon individual biological alterations, molecular analyses may detect subsets of morphologically identical tumors with different clinical behavior (diagnostic markers), describing their prognosis more effectively (prognostic markers).^[3] Moreover, molecular biological studies may lead to the discovery of gene-based predictors of therapeutic response, helping to guide more rationally currently available therapies (predictive markers).^[4] At present few tumor biomarkers are available for gliomas and it is sometimes unclear how to incorporate molecular genetic information into clinical practice. Differences in study design, patient and specimen characteristics, assay methods and statistical analysis make different studies poorly comparable and also make it difficult to understand the context in which the conclusion should be applied.^[5]

[Read more…]

M A Kumar; H Vangala; D C Tong; D M Campbell; A Balgude; I Eyngorn; A S Beraud; J M Olivot; A W Hsia; R A Bernstein; C A Wijman; M G Lansberg; M Mlynash; S Hamilton; M E Moseley; G W Albers

Background and aim Identification of ischaemic stroke subtype currently relies on clinical evaluation supported by various diagnostic studies. The authors sought to determine whether specific diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) patterns could reliably guide the subsequent work-up for patients presenting with acute ischaemic stroke symptoms.
Methods 273 consecutive patients with acute ischaemic stroke symptoms were enrolled in this prospective, observational, single-centre NIH-sponsored study. Electrocardiogram, non-contrast head CT, brain MRI, head and neck magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and transoesophageal echocardiography were performed in this prespecified order. Stroke neurologists determined TOAST (Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment) classification on admission and on discharge. Initial TOAST stroke subtypes were compared with the final TOAST subtype. If the final subtype differed from the initial assessment, the diagnostic test deemed the principal determinant of change was recorded. These principal determinants of change were compared between a CT-based and an MRI-based classification schema.
Results Among patients with a thromboembolic DWI pattern, transoesophageal echocardiography was the principal determinant of diagnostic change in 8.8% versus 0% for the small vessel group and 1.7% for the other group (p<0.01). Among patients with the combination of a thromboembolic pattern on MRI and a negative cervical MRA, transoesophageal echocardiography led to a change in diagnosis in 12.1%. There was no significant difference between groups using a CT-based scheme.
Conclusions DWI patterns appear to predict stroke aetiologies better than conventional methods. The study data suggest an MRI-based diagnostic algorithm that can potentially obviate the need for echocardiography in one-third of stroke patients and may limit the number of secondary extracranial vascular imaging studies to approximately 10%.

[Read more…]

Giovanni B. Frisoni; Nick C. Fox; Clifford R. Jack; Philip Scheltens; Paul M. Thompson

Structural imaging based on magnetic resonance is an integral part of the clinical assessment of patients with suspected Alzheimer dementia. Prospective data on the natural history of change in structural markers from preclinical to overt stages of Alzheimer disease are radically changing how the disease is conceptualized, and will influence its future diagnosis and treatment. Atrophy of medial temporal structures is now considered to be a valid diagnostic marker at the mild cognitive impairment stage. Structural imaging is also included in diagnostic criteria for the most prevalent non-Alzheimer dementias, reflecting its value in differential diagnosis. In addition, rates of whole-brain and hippocampal atrophy are sensitive markers of neurodegeneration, and are increasingly used as outcome measures in trials of potentially disease-modifying therapies. Large multicenter studies are currently investigating the value of other imaging and nonimaging markers as adjuncts to clinical assessment in diagnosis and monitoring of progression. The utility of structural imaging and other markers will be increased by standardization of acquisition and analysis methods, and by development of robust algorithms for automated assessment.

Introduction

Clinical and neuropathological studies have greatly advanced our knowledge of the pathophysiology and progression of Alzheimer disease (AD). This disease is associated with progressive accumulation of abnormal proteins (amyloid-β [Aβ] and hyperphosphorylated tau) in the brain, which leads to progressive synaptic, neuronal and axonal damage. Neurobiological changes occur years before symptoms appear, with a stereotypical pattern of early medial temporal lobe (entorhinal cortex and hippocampus) involvement, followed by progressive neocortical damage.^[1,2] The delay in emergence of the cognitive correlates of these changes suggests that the toxic effects of tau and/or Aβ progressively erode ‘brain reserve’ until a clinical threshold is surpassed and amnestic symptoms develop. For example, amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI)—memory disturbance in the absence of dementia—is followed by more-widespread cognitive deficits in multiple domains until a disability threshold is reached and traditional diagnostic criteria for probable AD are fulfilled.^[3] The prospect of disease-modifying drugs that can slow or prevent disease progression has prompted increased interest in identifying individuals with AD earlier and more accurately.

[Read more…]