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Gaeta M, Cavallaro M, Vinci SL, Mormina E, Blandino A, Marino MA, Granata F, Tessitore A, Galletta K, D'Angelo T, Visalli C. Magnetism of materials: theory and practice in magnetic resonance imaging. Insights Imaging 2021; 12:179. [PMID: 34862955 PMCID: PMC8643382 DOI: 10.1186/s13244-021-01125-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2021] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
All substances exert magnetic properties in some extent when placed in an external magnetic field. Magnetic susceptibility represents a measure of the magnitude of magnetization of a certain substance when the external magnetic field is applied. Depending on the tendency to be repelled or attracted by the magnetic field and in the latter case on the magnitude of this effect, materials can be classified as diamagnetic or paramagnetic, superparamagnetic and ferromagnetic, respectively. Knowledge of type and extent of susceptibility of common endogenous and exogenous substances and how their magnetic properties affect the conventional sequences used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can help recognize them and exalt or minimize their presence in the acquired images, so as to improve diagnosis in a wide variety of benign and malignant diseases. Furthermore, in the context of diamagnetic susceptibility, chemical shift imaging enables to assess the intra-voxel ratio between water and fat content, analyzing the tissue composition of various organs and allowing a precise fat quantification. The following article reviews the fundamental physical principles of magnetic susceptibility and examines the magnetic properties of the principal endogenous and exogenous substances of interest in MRI, providing potential through representative cases for improved diagnosis in daily clinical routine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele Gaeta
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, Policlinico Universitario G. Martino, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98100, Messina, Italy
| | - Marco Cavallaro
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, Policlinico Universitario G. Martino, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98100, Messina, Italy
| | - Sergio Lucio Vinci
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, Policlinico Universitario G. Martino, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98100, Messina, Italy
| | - Enricomaria Mormina
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, Policlinico Universitario G. Martino, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98100, Messina, Italy.
| | - Alfredo Blandino
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, Policlinico Universitario G. Martino, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98100, Messina, Italy
| | - Maria Adele Marino
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, Policlinico Universitario G. Martino, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98100, Messina, Italy
| | - Francesca Granata
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, Policlinico Universitario G. Martino, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98100, Messina, Italy
| | - Agostino Tessitore
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, Policlinico Universitario G. Martino, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98100, Messina, Italy
| | - Karol Galletta
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, Policlinico Universitario G. Martino, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98100, Messina, Italy
| | - Tommaso D'Angelo
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, Policlinico Universitario G. Martino, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98100, Messina, Italy
| | - Carmela Visalli
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Imaging, Policlinico Universitario G. Martino, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98100, Messina, Italy
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Pipeline for Advanced Contrast Enhancement (PACE) of Chest X-ray in Evaluating COVID-19 Patients by Combining Bidimensional Empirical Mode Decomposition and Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE). SUSTAINABILITY 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/su12208573] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
COVID-19 is a new pulmonary disease which is driving stress to the hospitals due to the large number of cases worldwide. Imaging of lungs can play a key role in the monitoring of health status. Non-contrast chest computed tomography (CT) has been used for this purpose, mainly in China, with significant success. However, this approach cannot be massively used, mainly for both high risk and cost, also in some countries, this tool is not extensively available. Alternatively, chest X-ray, although less sensitive than CT-scan, can provide important information about the evolution of pulmonary involvement during the disease; this aspect is very important to verify the response of a patient to treatments. Here, we show how to improve the sensitivity of chest X-ray via a nonlinear post-processing tool, named PACE (Pipeline for Advanced Contrast Enhancement), combining properly Fast and Adaptive Bidimensional Empirical Mode Decomposition (FABEMD) and Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE). The results show an enhancement of the image contrast as confirmed by three widely used metrics: (i) contrast improvement index, (ii) entropy, and (iii) measure of enhancement. This improvement gives rise to a detectability of more lung lesions as identified by two radiologists, who evaluated the images separately, and confirmed by CT-scans. The results show this method is a flexible and an effective approach for medical image enhancement and can be used as a post-processing tool for medical image understanding and analysis.
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Sapienza D, Asmundo A, Silipigni S, Barbaro U, Cinquegrani A, Granata F, Barresi V, Gualniera P, Bottari A, Gaeta M. Feasibility Study of MRI Muscles Molecular Imaging in Evaluation of Early Post-Mortem Interval. Sci Rep 2020; 10:392. [PMID: 31942017 PMCID: PMC6962370 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-57357-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2018] [Accepted: 12/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Estimating early postmortem interval (EPI) is a difficult task in daily forensic activity due to limitations of accurate and reliable methods. The aim of the present work is to describe a novel approach in the estimation of EPI based on quantitative magnetic resonance molecular imaging (qMRMI) using a pig phantom since post-mortem degradation of pig meat is similar to that of human muscles. On a pig phantom maintained at 20° degree, using a 1.5 T MRI scanner we performed 10 scans (every 4 hours) monitoring apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), fractional anisotropy (FA) magnetization transfer ration (MTR), tractography and susceptibility weighted changes in muscles until 36 hours after death. Cooling of the phantom during the experiment was recorded. Histology was also obtained. Pearson’s Test was carried out for time correlation between post-mortem interval and MRI data. We found a significative inverse correlation between ADC, FA, MT values and PMI. Our preliminary data shows that post-mortem qMRMI is a potential powerful tool in accurately determining EPI and is worth of further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Sapienza
- Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences,and of Morphological and Functional Images, Section of Legal Medicine, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98125, Messina, Italy.
| | - Alessio Asmundo
- Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences,and of Morphological and Functional Images, Section of Legal Medicine, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98125, Messina, Italy
| | - Salvatore Silipigni
- Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences,and of Morphological and Functional Images, Section of Radiological Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Ugo Barbaro
- Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences,and of Morphological and Functional Images, Section of Radiological Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Antonella Cinquegrani
- Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences,and of Morphological and Functional Images, Section of Radiological Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Francesca Granata
- Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences,and of Morphological and Functional Images, Section of Radiological Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Valeria Barresi
- Department of Human Pathology in Adulthood and Evolutive Age, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Patrizia Gualniera
- Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences,and of Morphological and Functional Images, Section of Legal Medicine, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria 1, 98125, Messina, Italy
| | - Antonio Bottari
- Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences,and of Morphological and Functional Images, Section of Radiological Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Michele Gaeta
- Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences,and of Morphological and Functional Images, Section of Radiological Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
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