Monitoring the survival of islet transplants by MRI using a novel technique for their automated detection and quantification

Object  There is a clinical need to be able to assess graft loss of transplanted pancreatic islets (PI) non-invasively with clear-cut quantification of islet survival. We tracked transplanted PI in diabetic mice during the early post-transplant period by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and quantified the islet loss using automatic segmentation technique. Materials and methods  Magnetically labeled islet iso-, allo- and xenografts were injected into the right liver lobes. Animals underwent MRI scanning during 14 days after PI transplantation. MR images were processed using custom-made software, which automatically detects hypointense regions representing PI. It is based on morphological top-hat and bottom-hat transforms. Results  Manually and automatically detected areas, corresponding to PI, differed by 4% in phantoms. Signal loss regions due to PI decreased comparably in all groups during the first week post transplant. Throughout the second week post-transplant, the signal loss area continued in a steep decline in case of allografts and xenografts, whereas the decline in case of isografts slowed down. Conclusion  Automatic segmentation allows for the more reproducible, objective assessment of transplanted PI. Quantification confirms the assumption that a significant number of islets are destroyed in the first week following transplantation irrespective of allografts, xenografts or isografts.     

Role of magnetic resonance methods in the evaluation of prostate cancer: an Indian perspective

The challenges in detection, localization, and staging of prostate cancer have prompted the investigation of the role of various magnetic resonance (MR) methodologies in a large cohort of men prior to biopsy. The identification of suspicious areas of malignancy was carried out using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). Our data shows that apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) may be a reliable marker to differentiate normal, benign, and malignant prostate tissues similar to the metabolite ratio. Also, the combined use of MRSI and DWI improves the diagnosis of prostate cancer. In this review, we present our experience on the use of MRI, MRSI and DWI methods in the assessment of prostate cancer in Indian men. Further, analysis of the comparison of the ADC and the metabolite ratio values reported in the literature across various patient populations are presented. An erratum to this article can be found at     

23Na microscopy of the mouse heart in vivo using density-weighted chemical shift imaging

The mouse has become an important animal model for human cardiac disease, and the development of techniques for non-invasive imaging of the mouse heart in vivo is, therefore, of great potential interest. Previous magnetic resonance imaging studies have concentrated on pathologically induced changes in cardiac structure and dynamics by acquiring proton images. Further information can be gained by studying cardiac function and physiology using other nuclei, for example, sodium. Sodium imaging of such a small structure presents considerable technical challenges. In this work we show the first sodium images of the mouse heart, with an isotropic spatial resolution of 1 × 1 × 1 mm, acquired in a time of 1.5 h. The ventricles, septum and myocardium are readily distinguishable in these images, which were acquired through the combination of 3D density-weighted chemical shift imaging, optimized instrumentation, and a high magnetic field strength (17.6 T). Measurements of the myocardial:blood sodium concentration in the left and right ventricles agree well with theoretical values.     

Evaluation of adipose tissue distribution in obese fa/fa Zucker rats by in vivo MR imaging: effects of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor agonists

High-resolution MRI of obese (fa/fa) Zucker rats was investigated to characterize and assess in vivo adipose tissue distribution. Thirty animals were gavaged with a placebo, a PPAR activator (pioglitazone), or a dual PPAR activator (LM 4156). At day 15, T₁-weighted images were acquired in vivo using a 2TMRI system with a high in-plane spatial resolution (254 m). Fat volumes of selected territories were measured by image segmentation, and the retroperitoneal fat was weighed post-mortem. Body-weight gain was significant with pioglitazone (101.8±5.9 g, p<0.01 vs. placebo). The good quality of MR images allowed the delimitation and quantification of different fat territories. In response to pioglitazone, the retroperitoneal fat was more important compared to placebo (+23%, p<0.01) while subcutaneous fat was not different. No significant effects were observed with LM 4156. In vivo measurements of fat volumes were strongly correlated with ex vivo tissue weights (r=0.91). High-resolution MRI provides an in vivo measurement of adipose tissue distribution in obese Zucker rats. Specific fat depots of regions that were particularly involved in drug response were determined in vivo. Fat remodeling was observed with pioglitazone but not with a dual PPAR activator (LM 4156).     

Wavelet-based noise reduction for improved deconvolution of time-series data in dynamic susceptibility-contrast MRI

Dynamic susceptibility-contrast (DSC) MRI requires deconvolution to retrieve the tissue residue function R(t) and the cerebral blood flow (CBF). In this study, deconvolution of time-series data was performed by wavelet-transform-based denoising combined with the Fourier transform (FT). Traditional FT-based deconvolution of noisy data requires frequency-domain filtering, often leading to excessive smoothing of the recovered signal. In the present approach, only a low degree of regularisation was employed while the major noise reduction was accomplished by wavelet transformation of data and Wiener-like filtering in the wavelet space. After inverse wavelet transform, the estimate of CBF·R(t) was obtained. DSC-MRI signal-versus-time curves (signal-to-noise ratios 40 and 100) were simulated, corresponding to CBF values in the range 10–60 ml/(min 100 g). Three shapes of the tissue residue function were investigated. The technique was also applied to six volunteers. Simulations showed CBF estimates with acceptable accuracy and precision, as well as independence of any time shift between the arterial input function and the tissue concentration curve. The grey-matter to white-matter CBF ratio in volunteers was 2.4±0.2. The proposed wavelet/FT deconvolution is robust and can be implemented into existing perfusion software. CBF maps from healthy volunteers showed high quality.     

Measurements of left ventricular dimensions using real-time acquisition in cardiac magnetic resonance imaging: comparison with conventional gradient echo imaging

This study investigates the use of real-time acquisition in cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for measurements of left ventricular dimensions in comparison with conventional gradient echo acquisition. Thirty-one subjects with a variety of left ventricular morphologies to represent a typical clinical population were studied. Short-axis data sets of the left ventricle (LV) were acquired using a conventional turbo-gradient echo and an ultrafast hybrid gradient echo/echo planar sequence with acquisition in real-time. End-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), ejection fraction (EF) and left ventricular mass (LV mass) were measured. The agreement between the two acquisitions and interobserver, intraobserver and interstudy variabilities were determined. The bias between the two methods was 5.86 ml for EDV, 0.23 ml for ESV and 0.94% for EF. LV mass measurements were significantly lower with the real-time method (mean bias 14.38 g). This is likely to be the result of lower spatial resolution and chemical shift artefacts with the real-time method. Interobserver, intraobserver and interstudy variabilities were low for all parameters. In conclusion, real time acquisition in MRI can provide accurate and reproducible measurements of LV dimensions in subjects with normal as well as abnormal LV morphologies, but LV mass measurements were lower than with conventional gradient echo imaging. Presented in abstract form at the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine meeting in Denver, Colorado in April 2000.     

Retrospective analysis for evaluation of the value of contrast-enhanced MRI in patients treated with breast conservative therapy

Purpose The aim of this study was to assess the value of contrast-enhanced (c.-e.) MRI in the follow-up of patients with conservatively treated breast cancer since detection and exclusion of malignancy may interfere significantly with posttherapeutic changes within the treated breast. Material and methods A total of 207 patients with a history of limited surgery and radiation therapy underwent MR imaging, 40 patients were examined 0–12 months and 167 patients were examined later than 12 months after radiotherapy. Suspicious or indeterminate findings were suggested by clinical examination or conventional imaging in 80 studies. In 127 women, MRI was performed within breast tissue that was difficult to assess due to scarring or dense breast tissue. Results Recurrent carcinoma was confirmed in 27 patients by surgical biopsy. All 27 carcinomas, except for one with a slow signal increase, demonstrated early rise of signal intensity on dynamic T1-weighted contrast enhanced images. During the first year after therapy, the diagnostic accuracy could not be improved by additional use of c.-e. MRI. Differentiation between posttherapeutic changes and recurrent carcinoma was frequently not possible because of strong and sometimes early and ill-circumscribed enhancement. Later than 12 months after therapy enhancement decreased significantly, thus the false positive calls could be reduced from 49 (conventional imaging) to 12 (conventional imaging plus MRI). A total of 12 of 26 recurrences and multifocality in 4/5 cases were diagnosed by MR imaging alone at this time interval. Conclusion In the first year after therapy, c.-e. MRI is only indicated in selected cases. The results later than 12 months emphasize that c.-e. MRI may contribute significant additional information. It allows better distinction of posttherapeutic fibrosis from recurrent carcinoma and proved to be able to detect recurrent disease more sensitive and at an earlier stage.     

Imaging birds in a bird cage: in-vivo FSE 3D MRI of bird brain

An in-vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedure is described that allows one to obtain three-dimensional high quality images of the entire brain of small birds such as the canary (20 g) and the starling (75 g) with an image resolution of 0.1 mm (58-113 μm, dependent on the size of the imaged bird). The entire imaging procedure took about 2 h after which the birds recovered from anaesthesia uneventfully and could be reused for subsequent additional imaging. This non invasive MRI technique enables to correlate brain measures with behavioural or physiological data that are dynamic in nature and could permit significant progress for bird neurological research. © 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.     

A fault analysis of DC electric arc furnaces with SVC harmonic filters in a mini-mill plant

This paper proposes the most feasible solution to overcome the failure of the 2nd harmonic filter in the static VAR compensator (SVC) which operates with the DC electric arc furnace (EAF) at Gwangyang Steel Mill in Korea. In order to investigate the causes of this failure, various measurements were carried out on the DC EAF and the main transformer at the PCC (point of common connection). It was concluded that the two causes for the failure are; the inrush current in the main transformer, and the parallel resonance between the system impedance and the harmonic filter. Three solutions to suppress the transformer inrush current and another three solutions to avoid the parallel resonance are suggested. The feasibility of these solutions was verified through the computer simulation with PSCAD/EMTDC. The most feasible solution to avoid further failures of the 2nd harmonic filter was selected, based on the estimated result for the six optional solutions in the point of performance and cost.