DTI parameters in neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy after total body hypothermia.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: MR imaging provides means for discriminating different patterns of Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and may distinguish most severe cases from less severe but is unable to predict long-term outcome. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) offers information for a more complete characterization of HIE. The purpose of this study is to compare the modifications of DTI parameters in newborns one week and six months following total-body cooling to healthy controls. METHODS: Forty-seven cooled newborns were studied with MRI, 20 underwent follow-up at 6 months. 12 healthy newborns and nine children at 6 months were enrolled as control groups (HC). Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus (ILF), Corpus Callosum Fasciculus (CCF), Corticospinal Tract (CST), Optical Tract (OT), Optic Radiation (OR) were generated in all subjects. DTI parameters were evaluated in basal ganglia (BG), thalamus (TH) and tracks. Statistical analysis was performed with MANOVA. RESULTS: In newborns HIE versus HC, there were significantly lower fractional anisotropy (FA) on OR and CST and higher axial diffusivity (AD), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and radial diffusivity (RD) values on CST, BG and TH in HIE-N. At 6 months there were no significant grouping effects. The analysis showed a significant increase of FA, decrease of ADC, AD, RD after 6 months for HIE and HC. CONCLUSIONS: We observed modifications of parameter values in HIE newborns vs HC; however normalization of values at 6 months suggests that changes of parameters cannot be considered early biomarkers for evaluation of therapeutic hypothermia in newborns with moderate HIE and normal conventional MRI.

Imaging of superior labral anterior to posterior (SLAP) tears of the shoulder.

Superior labral anterior to posterior (SLAP) tears include a number of abnormal changes of the superior glenoid labrum. SLAP tears have been first reported in elite young atlete and are caused by repetitive overhead motion or by a fall on an outstretched arm. SLAP can lead to chronic pain and instability of shoulder. A diagnosis of SLAP may be difficult on the basis of clinical tests. Hence, modern imaging, including computed tomography arthrography (CTA), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance arthrography (MRA) play a key role in the diagnosis of SLAP. The large number of normal anatomic variants of the superior labrum and the surrounding structures make the interpretation of SLAP challenging on imaging and at arthroscopy. In this article the imaging of SLAP are discussed in detail along with relevant anatomy, anatomic variants and biomechanics.