The combined use of conventional MRI and MR spectroscopic imaging increases the diagnostic accuracy in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(613 views) Cervo A, Cocozza S, Saccà F, Giorgio SM, Morra VB, Tedeschi E, Marsili A, Vacca G, Palma V, Brunetti A, Quarantelli M
Keywords: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Conventional Mri, Hyperintensity, Hypointensity, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Motor Cortex, N Acetylaspartic Acid, Adult, Controlled Study, Diagnostic Accuracy, Discriminant Analysis, Female, Human, Major Clinical Study, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Scanner, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Primary Motor Cortex, Pyramidal Tract, Retrospective Study, Sensitivity And Specificity, Choline, Creatine, N-Acetylaspartate, Analogs And Derivatives, Brain Cortex, Controlled Clinical Trial, Frontal Lobe, Metabolism, Middle Aged, Multimodal Imaging, Pathology, Procedures, Reproducibility, Very Elderly, 80 And Over, Cerebral Cortex, Reproducibility Of Results, Retrospective Studies, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Diagnosis Metabolism
, Aspartic Acid Analogs, Derivatives Metabolism
, Cerebral Cortex Metabolism Pathology
, Choline Metabolism
, Creatine Metabolism
, Frontal Lobe Metabolism Pathology
, Magnetic Resonance Imaging Methods
, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Methods
, Multimodal Imaging Methods
, Pyramidal Tracts Metabolism Pathology
Affiliations: *** IBB - CNR ***
Department of Advanced Biomedical Sciences, University "Federico II", Naples, Italy.
Department of Neurosciences, Reproductive Sciences and Odontostomatology, University "Federico II", Naples, Italy.
U.O.C. Neuro fi siopatologia, PO S. Gennaro ASL Napoli 1, Naples, Italy.
Biostructure and Bioimaging Institute, National Research Council, Naples, Italy.
U.O.C. Neurofisiopatologia, PO S. Gennaro ASL Napoli 1Naples, Italy
U. O. C. Neuro fi siopatologia, PO S. Gennaro ASL Napoli 1, Naples, Italy.
U. O. C. Neurofisiopatologia, PO S. Gennaro ASL Napoli 1Naples, Italy
University of Naples Federico II
PO S Gennaro ASL Napoli 1
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR)
References: Not available.
The combined use of conventional MRI and MR spectroscopic imaging increases the diagnostic accuracy in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Purpose: We aimed to assess, in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the diagnostic accuracy of the combined use of conventional MRI signal changes (namely, hypointensity of the precentral cortex and hyperintensity of the corticospinal tracts on T2-weighted images), and N-Acetyl-Aspartate (NAA) reduction in the motor cortex at Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS), which are affected by limited diagnostic accuracy when used separately. Methods: T2-hypointensity and NAA/(Choline + Creatine) ratio of the precentral gyrus and T2-hyperintensity of the corticospinal tracts were measured in 84 ALS patients and 28 healthy controls, using a Region-of-Interest approach. Sensitivity and specificity values were calculated using Fisher stepwise discriminant analysis, and cross-validated using the leave-one-out method. Results: Precentral gyrus T2 signal intensity (p < 10(-4)) and NAA peak (p < 10(-6)) were significantly reduced in patients, and their values did not correlate significantly to each other both in patients and controls, while no significant differences were obtained in terms of T2-hyperintensity of the corticospinal tract. Sensitivity and specificity of the two discriminant variables, taken alone, were 71.4% and 75.0%, for NAA peak, and 63.1% and 71.4% for T2-hypointensity, respectively. When using these two variables in combination, a significant increase in sensitivity (78.6%) and specificity (82.1%) was achieved. Conclusions: Precentral gyrus T2-hypointensity and NAA peak are not significantly correlated in ALS patients, suggesting that they reflect relatively independent phenomena. The combined use of these measures improves the diagnostic accuracy of MRI in ALS diagnosis. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
The combined use of conventional MRI and MR spectroscopic imaging increases the diagnostic accuracy in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis