• Korean Journal of Digital Imaging in Medicine
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.57-61
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• 2012

To compare the accuracy of breath-hold magnetic resonance imaging sequences to establish the most effective superparamagnetic iron oxide-enhanced sequence for detection of hepatic metastases. A total of 100 patients(50men and 50women, mean age: 60years) with liver disease(including malignant and benign liver lesions) were investigated at 3.0T machine (GE, General Electric Medical System, Excite HD) with 8Ch body coil. Pulse sequence for MR imaging decided to the FS-T2-FSE-RT(TR/TE/Thick./Freq./Phase=12857ms/100ms/7mm/512/384), MGRE(TR/TE/Thick./Freq./Phase=100ms/9.7ms/7mm/384/288), in-out of phase echo(TR/$TE_1$, $TE_2$/Thick./Freq./Phase=140ms/2.4, 5.8ms/7mm/352/300), Images obtained before the injection of SPIO. Six sequences were optimized for lesion detection: FS-T2-FSE-RT, multigradient recalled echo data image(MGRE), T2-weighted MGRE with an 9.7msec echo time. Images were reviewed independently by five blinded observers. The accuracy of each sequence was measured by using picture archiving communication system analysis. All results were correlated with findings at multidectator computed tomography examination. Differences between the mean results of the six observers were measured by using paired student t-test analysis. Postcontrast T2-weighted MGRE sequences were the most accurate and were significantly superior to postcontrast FS-T2-FSE-RT, T2-weighted MGRE, in-out of phase MR sequences(p < .05). For all lesions that were malignant or smaller than 1 cm, respectively, contrast to noise ratio of pre and postcontrast sequences were -1and -0.3 for T2-weighted FSE, 0.53 and 4.5 in-out of phase, 7, 7.08, 5.08, 3.32, 1.7, 1.16, 0.79, 0.68 for GRE with 2.9, 7.5, 12.1, 16.6, 21.2, 25.8, 30.4, 35.0 TE values. Breath-hold various TE precontrast sequences offer improvement in sensitivity compared with fixed multigradient recalled echo sequences alone.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.467-476
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• 2013

Objective : This study aimed to evaluate the hypotheses that administration routes [intra-arterial (IA) vs. intravenous (IV)] affect the early stage migration of transplanted human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBM-MSCs) in acute brain infarction. Methods : Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=40) were subjected to photothrombotic infarction. Three days after photothrombotic infarction, rats were randomly allocated to one of four experimental groups [IA group : n=12, IV group : n=12, superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) group : n=8, control group : n=8]. All groups were subdivided into 1, 6, 24, and 48 hours groups according to time point of sacrifice. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) consisting of T2 weighted image (T2WI), $T2^*$ weighted image ($T2^*WI$), susceptibility weighted image (SWI), and diffusion weighted image of rat brain were obtained prior to and at 1, 6, 24, and 48 hours post-implantation. After final MRI, rats were sacrificed and grafted cells were analyzed in brain and lung specimen using Prussian blue and immunohistochemical staining. Results : Grafted cells appeared as dark signal intensity regions at the peri-lesional zone. In IA group, dark signals in peri-lesional zone were more prominent compared with IV group. SWI showed largest dark signal followed by $T2^*WI$ and T2WI in both IA and IV groups. On Prussian blue staining, IA administration showed substantially increased migration and a large number of transplanted hBM-MSCs in the target brain than IV administration. The Prussian blue-positive cells were not detected in SPIO and control groups. Conclusion : In a rat photothrombotic model of ischemic stroke, selective IA administration of human mesenchymal stem cells is more effective than IV administration. MRI and histological analyses revealed the time course of cell migration, and the numbers and distribution of hBM-MSCs delivered into the brain.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 2010

Purpose : To compare the relative values of various fast breath-hold imaging sequences for superparamagnetic iron-oxide (SPIO)-enhanced hepatic MRI for the assessment of solid focal lesions with a 3T MRI unit. Materials and Methods : 102 consecutive patients with one or more solid malignant hepatic lesions were evaluated by spoiled gradient echo (GRE) sequences with three different echo times (2.4 msec [GRE_2.4], 5.8 msec [GRE_5.8], and 10 msec [GRE_10]) for $T2^*$-weighted imaging in addition to T2-weighted turbo spin echo (TSE) sequence following intravenous SPIO injection. Image qualities of the hepatic contour, vascular landmarks and artifacts were rated by two independent readers using a four-point scale. For quantitative analysis, contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) was measured in 170 solid focal lesions larger than 1 cm (107 hepatocellular carcinomas, nine cholangiocarcinomas and 54 metastases). Results : GRE_5.8 showed the highest mean points for hepatic contour, vascular anatomy and imaging artifact presence among all of the subjected sequences (p<0.001) and was comparable (p=0.414) with GRE_10 with regard to lesion conspicuity. The mean CNRs were significantly higher (p<0.001) in the following order: GRE_10 ($24.4{\pm}14.5$), GRE_5.8 ($14.8{\pm}9.4$), TSE ($9.7{\pm}6.3$), and GRE_2.4 ($7.9{\pm}6.4$). The mean CNRs of CCCs and metastases were higher than those of HCCs for all imaging sequences (p<0.05). Conclusion : Regarding overall performances, GRE using a moderate echo time of 5.8 msec can provide the most reliable data among the various fast breath-hold SPIO-enhanced hepatic MRI sequences at 3T unit despite the lower CNR of GRE_5.8 compared to that of GRE_10.