Coban G, Parlak S, Gumeler E, Altunbuker H, Konuşkan B, Karakaya J, Anlar B, Oguz KK. Synthetic MRI in Neurofibromatosis Type 1.
AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2021;
42:1709-1715. [PMID:
34266869 DOI:
10.3174/ajnr.a7214]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2021] [Accepted: 04/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Synthetic MRI enables the generation of various contrast-weighted images and quantitative data in a reasonable scanning time. We aimed to use synthetic MRI to assess the detection and underlying tissue characteristics of focal areas of signal intensity and normal-appearing brain parenchyma and morphometric alterations in the brains of patients with neurofibromatosis type 1.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Conventional MR imaging and synthetic MRI were prospectively obtained from 19 patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 and 18 healthy controls. Two neuroradiologists independently evaluated focal areas of signal intensity on both conventional MR imaging and synthetic MRI. Additionally, automatically segmented volume calculations of the brain in both groups and quantitative analysis of myelin, including the focal areas of signal intensity and normal-appearing brain parenchyma, of patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 were performed using synthetic MRI.
RESULTS
The comparison of conventional MR imaging and synthetic MRI showed good correlation in the supratentorial region of the brain (κ = 0.82-1). Automatically segmented brain parenchymal volume, intracranial volume, and GM volumes were significantly increased in the patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (P < .05). The myelin-correlated compound, myelin fraction volume, WM fraction volume, transverse relaxation rate, and longitudinal relaxation rate values were significantly decreased in focal areas of signal intensity on myelin and WM maps (P < .001); however, GM, GM fraction volume, and proton density values were significantly increased on the GM map (P < .001).
CONCLUSIONS
Synthetic MRI is a potential tool for the assessment of morphometric and tissue alterations as well as the detection of focal areas of signal intensity in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 in a reasonable scan time.
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