Brain perfusion

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia worldwide and significantly impacts the essential functions of daily life and social activities. Research on AD has found that its pathogenesis is related to the extracellular accumulation of amyloid-beta (Aβ) plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles in the cortical and limbic areas of the human brain, as well as cerebrovascular factors. The detection of Aβ or tau can be performed using various probes and methodologies. However, these modalities are expensive to implement and often require invasive procedures, limiting accessibility on a large scale...

BACKGROUND: Patients with acute brain injury (ABI) are a peculiar population because ABI does not only affect the brain but also other organs such as the lungs, as theorized in brain-lung crosstalk models. ABI patients often require mechanical ventilation (MV) to avoid the complications of impaired respiratory function that can follow ABI; MV should be settled with meticulousness owing to its effects on the intracranial compartment, especially regarding positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP)...

INTRODUCTION: The Pressure Reactivity index (PRx) has been proposed as a surrogate measure for cerebrovascular autoregulation (CA) and it has been described that older age is associated with worse PRx. The etiology for this reduced capacity remains unknown. RESEARCH QUESTION: To investigate the relation between age and PRx in a cohort of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) while correcting for cardiovascular comorbidities. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis on prospectively collected data in 151 consecutive TBI patients between 2013 and 2023...

Managing children with critical neurological conditions requires a comprehensive understanding of several principles of critical care. Providing a holistic approach that addresses not only the acute interactions between the brain and different organ systems, but also critical illness-associated complications and recovery is essential for improving outcomes in these patients. The brain reacts to an insult with autonomic responses designed to optimize cardiac output and perfusion, which can paradoxically be detrimental...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the outcomes of micro-neurosurgical interventions on V1 segment of vertebral artery (VA) in patients with refractory vertebrobasilar insufficiency (VBI) due to dolicoarteriopathy and external compressions and to assess the secondary benefits of Parkinsonism-like symptoms. METHODS: Retrospective analysis encompassed 101 patients treated for VA dolicoarteriopathy or compression-related refractory VBI from 2016-2023. Of these, 16 patients exhibited drug-resistant Parkinsonism-like symptoms...

INTRODUCTION: Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is clinically characterized by various neurological symptoms. According to the diagnostic criteria, MSA is classified into parkinsonian-dominant type (MSA-P) or cerebellar ataxia-dominant type (MSA-C) based on the predominant signs displayed. Recently, N-isopropyl-p-[123 I] iodoamphetamine (123 I-IMP) single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), a radiological examination evaluating brain perfusion, has been successful in detecting cerebellar hypoperfusion in MSA-P patients, demonstrating its utility in the early detection of cerebellar dysfunction...

Heart transplantation with donation after circulatory death (DCD) provides excellent patient outcomes and increases donor heart availability. However, unlike conventional grafts obtained through donation after brain death, DCD cardiac grafts are not only exposed to warm, unprotected ischemia, but also to a potentially damaging pre-ischemic phase after withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy (WLST). In this review, we aim to bring together knowledge about changes in cardiac energy metabolism and its regulation that occur in DCD donors during WLST, circulatory arrest, and following the onset of warm ischemia...

Traumatic brain injury is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide and is one of the major public healthcare burdens in the US, with millions of patients suffering from the traumatic brain injury itself (approximately 1.6 million/year) or its repercussions (2-6 million patients with disabilities). The severity of traumatic brain injury can range from mild transient neurological dysfunction or impairment to severe profound disability that leaves patients completely non-functional. Indications for treatment differ based on the injury's severity, but one of the goals of early treatment is to prevent secondary brain injury...

Differentiating recurrent cerebral metastasis (CM) from brain radiation necrosis (BRN) is pivotal for guiding appropriate treatment and prognostication. Despite advances in imaging techniques, however, accurately distinguishing these conditions non-invasively is still challenging. This single-center retrospective study reviewed 32 cases (28 patients) with confirmed cerebral metastases who underwent surgical excision of lesions initially diagnosed by MRI and/or MR perfusion scans from 1 January 2015 to 30 September 2020...

OBJECTIVES: Few studies on ischemic complications and flow changes after a flow diverter covering the anterior cerebral artery. The purpose of the study was to explore the ischemic complications and anatomical alterations associated with the flow diverter after it covers the anterior cerebral artery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this single-center study, patients treated with FD covering the anterior cerebral artery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University were retrospectively collected...

BACKGROUND: The preclinical Alzheimer's cognitive composite (PACC) was developed for in-person administration to capture subtle cognitive decline. At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, cognitive testing was increasingly performed remotely by telephone or video administration. It is desirable to have a harmonized composite measurement derived from both in-person and remote assessments for identifying cognitive changes and to examine its relationship with common neuroimaging biomarkers...

BACKGROUND: Patients with large acute ischemic strokes (AIS) often have a poor prognosis despite successful recanalization due to multiple factors including reperfusion injury. The authors aim to describe our preliminary experience of endovascular cooling in patients with a large AIS after recanalization. METHODS: From January 2021 to July 2022, AIS patients presenting with large infarcts (defined as ASPECTS ≤5 on noncontrast CT or ischemic core ≥50 ml on CT perfusion) who achieved successful recanalization after endovascular treatment were analyzed in a prospective registry...

Background: Extracting multiregional radiomic features from multiparametric MRI for predicting pretreatment survival in isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) wild-type glioblastoma (GBM) patients is a promising approach. Methods: MRI data from 49 IDH wild-type glioblastoma patients pre-treatment were utilized. Diffusion and perfusion maps were generated, and tumor subregions segmented. Radiomic features were extracted for each tissue type and map. Feature selection on 1862 radiomic features identified 25 significant features...

Subtle changes in body temperature affect the outcomes of ill newborns. However, the temperature profile of neonatal brains remains largely unknown. In open-cot care, increased cerebral perfusion is correlated with higher superficial brain temperatures. This study investigated the dependence of brain temperature (relative to rectal temperature) on ambient temperature, body size, cerebral perfusion, and metabolism in infants receiving incubator care. Rectal, scalp, and brain temperatures, superior vena cava flow, and brain oxygenation were assessed using echocardiography, thermo-compensatory temperature monitoring, and near-infrared spectroscopy in 60 newborns...

BACKGROUND: Transverse aortic arch obstruction is a challenging lesion for which stent implantation provides a potentially important alternate therapy. The objectives were to evaluate the technical, procedural, and medium-to-long-term clinical outcomes of percutaneous stent implantation of transverse aortic arch obstruction. METHODS: This is a retrospective, multicenter study of transverse aortic arch stent implantation. Univariable and multivariable analyses were performed...

STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review. OBJECTIVE: Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is an imaging modality that has only recently seen neurosurgical application. CEUS uses inert microbubbles to intraoperatively visualize vasculature and perfusion of the brain and spinal cord in real time. Observation and augmentation of spinal cord perfusion is vital component of the management of traumatic spinal cord injury, yet there are limited imaging modalities to evaluate spinal cord perfusion...

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: First, to test the feasibility of cerebral blood flow (CBF) estimation using the pulse wave amplitude in flow-related enhancement (FREE) brain MRI in comparison to pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL-MRI). Second, the potential for acceleration was evaluated retrospectively. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 24 healthy study participants between 20 and 61 years had cerebral MRI. Perfusion imaging was performed with a balanced steady-state free precession sequence for FREE-MRI and with pCASL-MRI for comparison...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Acute mountain sickness is a series of brain-centered symptoms that occur when rapidly ascending to high altitude. Predicting acute mountain sickness before high-altitude exposure is crucial for protecting susceptible individuals. The present study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of predicting acute mountain sickness after high-altitude exposure by using multimodal brain MR imaging features measured at sea level. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We recruited 45 healthy sea-level residents who flew to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (3650 m)...

Nonclinical studies of test articles (TAs) in nonhuman primates are often designed to assess both biodistribution and toxicity. For this purpose, studies commonly use intravenous perfusion of ice-cold (2°C-8°C) saline to facilitate measurements of TA-associated nucleic acids and proteins, after which tissues undergo later fixation by immersion for histological processing and microscopic evaluation. Intriguingly, minimal apoptosis/single cell necrosis (A/SCN) of randomly distributed neural cells is evident in the cerebral cortex and less often the hippocampus in animals from all groups, including vehicle-treated controls...

BACKGROUND: A contrast agent-free approach would be preferable to the frequently used invasive approaches for evaluating cerebral perfusion in chronic migraineurs (CM). In this work, non-invasive quantitative volumetric perfusion imaging was used to evaluate alterations in cerebral perfusion in CM. METHODS: We used conventional brain structural imaging sequences and 3D pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (3D PCASL) to examine thirteen CM patients and fifteen normal controls (NCs)...