Table of Contents
Editorials
Perspectives
Editorials
Review Article
Level 1 EBM Expedited Publication
Practice Perspectives
- Interobserver Agreement in the Interpretation of Outpatient Head CT Scans in an Academic Neuroradiology Practice
Repeatability of outpatient head CT interpretations performed in an academic practice was assessed in 119 randomly selected studies. These were blindly read twice by 8 neuroradiologists. Differences in location and severity of findings occurred in 9.2% of cases and contradictory findings in 15.1%. Thus, discrepancies in double-blind interpretations were more common than reported in peer-review quality assurance programs.
Brain
- Percentage Insula Ribbon Infarction of >50% Identifies Patients Likely to Have Poor Clinical Outcome Despite Small DWI Infarct Volume
Using CT or DWI, the authors categorized percentages of insular ribbon infarctions as less or more than 50% and correlated these with clinical outcomes. Only insular ribbon involvement greater than 50% and low NIHSS score at admission correlated with poor outcomes. They concluded that DWI–percentage insula ribbon infarct of >50% independently predicted poor clinical outcome and can help identify patients with stroke likely to have poor outcome despite small admission DWI lesion volumes.
- Abnormal White Matter Integrity in Chronic Users of Codeine-Containing Cough Syrups: A Tract-Based Spatial Statistics Study
Because codeine is a popular drug and results in cognitive deficits, the authors assessed 30 chronic users and 30 controls with DTI. Chronic codeine users showed lower fractional anisotropy in 4 brain regions and higher scores on the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. It appears that chronic codeine-containing syrup abuse may be associated with disruptions in brain white matter integrity and that these microstructural deficits may be linked to higher impulsivity in chronic users.
- Mapping p53 Mutations in Low-Grade Glioma: A Voxel-Based Neuroimaging Analysis
Brain tumor location has prognostic implications so these authors explored whether location also correlated with p53 status in 182 patients. Tumors occurring in the left medial temporal and right anterior temporal lobes were associated with high expression of mutant p53 and had significantly worse progression-free survival.
Interventional
- Rescue Treatment of Thromboembolic Complications during Endovascular Treatment of Cerebral Aneurysms: A Meta-Analysis
The authors evaluated the results reported in 23 studies that included 516 patients in whom different drugs were used for rescue therapy in thromboembolic complications during endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysms. The literature shows that rescue therapy with thrombolytic agents resulted in significantly more morbidity than rescue therapy with glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors. Tirofiban/eptifibatide resulted in significantly higher recanalization rates compared with abciximab.
Head & Neck
Pediatrics
Peripheral Nervous System
Spine
- Double Inversion Recovery Sequence of the Cervical Spinal Cord in Multiple Sclerosis and Related Inflammatory Diseases
Double inversion recovery was used to study 30 patients with suspected or established MS and images were blindly evaluated by 2 neuroradiologists. DIR detected 28% more lesions than T2-weighted images with higher contrast-to-noise ratios leading to increased rating in lesion visibility. The authors concluded that the DIR sequence allowed better detection of lesions in MS and related inflammatory diseases of the cervical spinal cord compared with conventional T2WI.
