Diffusion Imaging: Insight to Cell Status and Cytoarchitecture

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Diffusion-weighted imaging

Original diffusion-weighted MR imaging of in vivo systems was performed in the 1980s [2], [10], [25], and excellent reviews on the technical aspects of diffusion imaging are available from several sources [6], [26], [27]. A brief qualitative synopsis of diffusion principles is presented herein. Molecular diffusion refers to the thermally driven random translational motion of molecules in media. Diffusion is also referred to as brownian motion in which media viscosity, temperature, and the

Diffusion imaging in tissue characterization

One of the earliest successful applications of DWI and ADC mapping was in the detection and characterization of stroke. As demonstrated by many investigators, DWI offers unique sensitivity to early ischemic damage in the brain [4], [5], [9]. Moreover, the DWI/ADC response is time dependent such that acute and old ischemic stroke can be distinguished. Acute ischemic stroke exhibits a hyperintensity on DWI (ie, low ADC). One prevalent theory is that acute ischemia leads to cytotoxic edema because

Summary

MR imaging methods such as DWI and DTI based on tissue biophysical properties are rapidly being incorporated in routine brain imaging protocols to improve the diagnosis, characterization, and management of patients with brain tumors. In the future, these methods combined with other physiology-based methods, such as MR perfusion and MRS metabolite mapping, as well as excellent anatomic images are anticipated to improve brain tumor diagnosis, biopsy guidance, pretreatment and presurgical

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      However, studies are difficult to compare given the differences in stage of development, the type of disease studied, demographic characteristics of the study populations, and the applied methodologies. Grey matter MD is thought to be affected by cell density as in studies of tumour tissue lower MD was related to higher cell density (Beaulieu, 2009; Chenevert et al., 2006; Gibbs et al., 2009). This suggests that lower right hippocampal MD in children previously treated with glucocorticoids may reflect an increase in the number of cellular elements.

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    This work was sponsored in part by NIH grant P01 CA 85878.

    Thomas L. Chenevert and Brian D. Ross have intellectual property related to a portion of the underlying technology.

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