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COACH syndrome is an autosomal recessive disease associates with cerebellar vermis hypoplasia, oligophrenia, ataxia, coloboma, and hepatic fibrosis. CNS imaging findings are small cerebellar vermis and abnormal course of superior cerebellar peduncles (SCP), which are similar to Joubert syndrome. We report a case of COACH syndrome, in which diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of MRI visualized the abnormality of whitematter tract anomaly in brainstem. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Introduction: To investigate the degree of the effect of aging and weight-bearing on T1rho values in normal cartilage. Materials and methods: Thirty-two asymptomatic patients were examined using 3.0-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine knee cartilage T1rho values and T2 values. The femoral and tibial cartilage was divided into weight-bearing (WB-Rs) and less-weight-bearing (LWB-Rs) regions. Single regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between cartilage T1rho values and age and between T2 values and age. Analysis of variance and post hoc-testing were used to evaluate differences in WB-Rs and LWB-Rs cartilage T1rho values and T2 values. Multiple linear regression modeling was performed to predict cartilage T1rho values. Results: Cartilage T1rho values correlated positively with age for all cartilage regions tested (p <0.001). There were no significant correlations between cartilage T2 values and age. In both the medial femoral and tibial cartilage, T1rho values were significantly higher in WB-Rs than in LWB-Rs (p <0.05). There were no significant differences in T2 values between WB-Rs and LWB-Rs. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that both age and weight-bearing were significant predictors of increased medial knee cartilage T1rho values (p <0.001). Conclusions: Aging and the degree of weight-bearing correlate with the change in cartilage T1rho values. Based on multiple regression modeling, aging may be a more important factor than weight-bearing for cartilage T1rho values. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The purpose of our study is to investigate whether there is an age-related change in T1 rho values and to evaluate the effects of weight bearing on age-related increase in T1 rho values of normal cartilage. Thirty-two asymptomatic patients were examined using a 3.0T MRI to determine knee cartilage T1 rho values. Femorotibial and patella cartilage was defined as weight-bearing cartilage (WB-C) and non-weight-bearing cartilage (NWB-C), respectively. The femoral cartilage was divided into weight-bearing (WB-P) and less-weight-bearing (LWB-P) portions. Pearson's correlation coefficient and single regression analysis were used to assess the relationship between cartilage T1 rho values and age. The slopes of the regression lines of cartilage T1 rho values and age were compared between WB-C and NWB-C and between WB-P and LWB-P. Cartilage T1 rho values correlated positively with aging for all cartilage regions and all age groups (p<0.001). In the medial femoral cartilage, the age-related increase in T1 rho values was significantly greater for WB-P than for NWB-P (p<0.05). For several cartilage regions, this increase was greater for WB-C than for LWB-C (p<0.05). The T1 rho value is very sensitive to age-related cartilage degeneration and weight bearing-related degeneration, and hence may be a very sensitive and useful measure for the early diagnosis of osteoarthritis.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the predictive capabilities of diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) and 18F-FDG PET/CT for tumor response to therapy and survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) receiving chemoradiotherapy., Subjects and Methods: The study included 64 patients with NSCLC diagnosed as stage III who underwent pretherapeutic DWI and FDG PET/CT and were treated with chemoradiotherapy. For quantitative prediction, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) for DWI and maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) for PET/CT were measured at all targeted lesions and averaged to obtain final values for each patient. To evaluate the predictive capability of either index for distinguishing partial response and nonresponse (stable or progressive disease) groups, receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed, and sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the two modalities were compared using the McNemar test. Finally, overall and progression-free survival curves divided by the corresponding threshold value were compared by means of the log-rank test., Results: The area under the curve (Az) for ADC (Az=0.84) was significantly larger than that for SUVmax (Az=0.64, p<0.05). The application of feasible threshold values resulted in specificity (44.4%) and accuracy (76.6%) of DWI becoming significantly higher than those of PET/CT (specificity, 11.1%; p<0.05 and accuracy, 67.2%, p<0.05). In addition, only overall survival and progression-free survival of the two groups divided by ADC at 2.1×10(-3) mm2/s and SUVmax at 10 showed a significant difference (p<0.05)., Conclusion: DWI may have better potential than FDG PET/CT for prediction of tumor response to therapy in NSCLC patients before chemoradiotherapy.

Xeroderma pigmentosum group A (XPA) is a hereditary dermatological disease in which hypersensitivity to ultraviolet radiation and various neurological symptoms are observed. In this study, to evaluate the degeneration occurring in the brain of XPA patients, neurological examinations by an established neurologist and 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were performed in 10 Japanese XPA patients. MRI studies included diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in addition to conventional sequences. Neurological examinations revealed various deteriorations in the both central and peripheral nervous systems in all subjects. MRI studies demonstrated age-dependent decline in multimodalities. Severe brain atrophy in conventional sequences, decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) value in DTI, and reduced NAA/Cre ratio in MRS were observed in the adult patients. Multimodal MRI studies unmask the neurological deterioration in XPA patients.