ABSTRACT
Objective@#The objective of this study was to analyze the different brain oxygen metabolism statuses in preeclampsia using magnetic resonance imaging and investigate the factors that affect cerebral oxygen metabolism in preeclampsia. @*Materials and Methods@#Forty-nine women with preeclampsia (mean age 32.4 years; range, 18–44 years), 22 pregnant healthy controls (PHCs) (mean age 30.7 years; range, 23–40 years), and 40 non-pregnant healthy controls (NPHCs) (mean age 32.5 years; range, 20–42 years) were included in this study. Brain oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) values were computed using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) plus quantitative blood oxygen level-dependent magnitude-based OEF mapping (QSM + quantitative blood oxygen level-dependent imaging or QQ) obtained with a 1.5-T scanner. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to investigate the differences in OEF values in the brain regions among the groups. @*Results@#Among the three groups, the average OEF values were significantly different in multiple brain areas, including the parahippocampus, multiple gyri of the frontal lobe, calcarine, cuneus, and precuneus (all P-values were less than 0.05, after correcting for multiple comparisons). The average OEF values of the preeclampsia group were higher than those of the PHC and NPHC groups. The bilateral superior frontal gyrus/bilateral medial superior frontal gyrus had the largest size of the aforementioned brain regions, and the OEF values in this area were 24.2 ± 4.6, 21.3 ± 2.4, and 20.6 ± 2.8 in the preeclampsia, PHC, and NPHC groups, respectively. In addition, the OEF values showed no significant differences between NPHC and PHC. Correlation analysis revealed that the OEF values of some brain regions (mainly involving the frontal, occipital, and temporal gyrus) were positively correlated with age, gestational week, body mass index, and mean blood pressure in the preeclampsia group (r = 0.361–0.812). @*Conclusion@#Using whole-brain VBM analysis, we found that patients with preeclampsia had higher OEF values than controls.
ABSTRACT
Objective To measure the diameter of cochlear nerve(CN) in normal hearing children with different ages,and evaluate the diameter variations with age.Methods A total of 156 normal-hearing children were assessed with 3D-FIESTA sequence scanning of the inner ear.All the subjects were divided into 13 groups according to age,witha group of ≤6 months,a group of ≤1 year,and 11 groups from one year to 12 years.Each group had 12 cases,including 6 boys and 6 girls.The diameter of CN was measured at the entrance of the cochlea,the middle of internal auditory canal(IAC) and the fundus of IAC respectively on the axial and oblique sagittal images of 3.0 T MRI by two independent observers.The average values measured by them were the final results.The intraclass correlation coefficient was used to determine the consistency between the two independent observers.The t test was used to access differencesin CN diameter by sex and sides.One-way analysis of variance(ANOVA) and two-way ANOVA were used for comparisons among different groups.Spearman correlation coefficient was applied to find a correlation between the CN diameter and age.Results The diameters of normal-hearing children's CN at the middle of the IAC,IAC fundus and the entrance of the cochlea were (1.12 ± 0.08),(1.05 ± 0.06),(0.87 ± 0.14) mm respectively,and there was significant difference among the three measuring points (F=527.57,P＜0.05).The diameters of the CN had no significant differenc (P＞0.05) in age-groups,gender and sides(P＞0.05),and there was no correlation between the diameters of normal children's CN and age.Conclusions The diameters of normal-hearing children's CN change with different points of the IAC,of which the maximum value is at the middle of the IAC,followed by the IAC fundus,and the entrance of the cochlea is at the minimum,more over the normal size doesn't change with age.