TY - JOUR T1 - Synthetic MRI in Neurofibromatosis Type 1 JF - American Journal of Neuroradiology JO - Am. J. Neuroradiol. SP - 1709 LP - 1715 DO - 10.3174/ajnr.A7214 VL - 42 IS - 9 AU - G. Coban AU - S. Parlak AU - E. Gumeler AU - H. Altunbuker AU - B. Konuşkan AU - J. Karakaya AU - B. Anlar AU - K.K. Oguz Y1 - 2021/09/01 UR - http://www.ajnr.org/content/42/9/1709.abstract N2 - 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.BPFbrain parenchymal fractionBPVbrain parenchymal volumecMRIconventional MRIFASIfocal areas of signal intensityGMFvolmean amount of GM within a single voxelHChealthy controlICVintracranial volumeMYmyelinMyCvolmyelin correlated fraction volumeMyFmyelin fractionMyVmyelin correlated volumeNABPnormal-appearing brain parenchymaNF-1neurofibromatosis type 1; NoN, non-GM/WM/CSFPDproton densityQRAPMASTERquantification of relaxation times and proton density by multiecho acquisition of a saturation-recovery using turbo spin-echo readoutR1longitudinal relaxation rateR2transverse relaxation rateSyMRIsynthetic MRIWMFvolthe mean amount of WM within a single voxel ER -