ELECTRONIC POSTER - ismrm

14:00 4267. Absolute Quantification of Human Brain Metabolites in Gulf War Syndrome Using
Proton MR
Spectroscopy at 3T
Hyeon-Man Baek 1 , Sergey Cheshkov 1,2 , Audrey Chang 1 , Sandeep Ganji 1 , Evelyn
Babcock 1 , Richard Briggs 1,2 , Robert Haley 2
1 Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States; 2 Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern
Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States
In the present study, metabolic concentrations of three distinct Gulf War (GW) syndromes (e.g., Syndrome-I is described as “impaired
cognition;” syndrome-II, “confusion-ataxia; syndrome-III, “central pain”) were calculated and compared the findings with those for
healthy GW veterans. The main observation in this work was the significant reduction of NAA (Syndrome-I, -8%; Syndrome-II, -
11%; Syndrome-III, -4%) concentration in left BG and (Syndrome-I, -7%; Syndrome-II, -8%; Syndrome-III, -9%) in right BG of GW
syndrome subjects compared to healthy control subjects. The present study demonstrated that quantitative in vivo 1H-MRS can be
used to detect the brain abnormalities in GW illness veterans, which may have relevance for the mechanisms of Gulf War syndrome.
14:30 4268. Brain Diffusion-Weighted Imaging in Friedreich’s Ataxia
Giovanni Rizzo 1,2 , Caterina Tonon 1 , Maria Lucia Valentino 2 , David Neil Manners 1 ,
Filippo Fortuna 1,2 , Cinzia Gellera 3 , Antonella Pini 4 , Sandro Ghezzo 4 , Agostino Baruzzi 2 ,
Claudia Testa 1 , emil Malucelli 1 , Bruno Barbiroli 1 , Valerio Carelli 2 , Raffaele Lodi 1
1 MR Spectroscopy Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, Aging and Nephrology, University of Bologna,
Bologna, BO, Italy; 2 Neurological Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, BO, Italy; 3 U.O. Biochemistry
and Genetics, Fondazione IRCCS-Istituto Neurologico Nazionale “Carlo Besta”, Milano, MI, Italy;
4 Neuropsichiatric Unit, Ospedale Maggiore, Bologna, BO, Italy
Objectives. To define the extent of the brain damage in FRDA and to identify in vivo markers of neurodegeneration, using DWI.
Methods. MD maps from 27 FRDA patients and 21 healthy volunteers were generated. ROI and histogram analysis was performed.
Results. MD values of patients were higher than controls in medulla, pons, MCP, SCP, pyramidal tracts, and OR, as well as in whole
brainstem, cerebellar hemispheres, cerebellar vermis and sovratentorial compartment, and correlated with genetic and clinical data.
Conclusions. Neurodegeneration in FRDA is more extensive than previously reported, and DWI is a suitable technique to provide
biomarkers of disease progression.
15:00 4269. Decreased Brain Glx Levels in HIV Dementia: A 3 Tesla MR Spectroscopy Study
Mona Adel Mohamed 1,2 , Peter B. Barker 1,2 , Richard L. Skolasky 3 , Richard T. Moxley 3 ,
Martin G. Pomper 1 , Ned C. Sacktor 3
1 Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; 2 Kennedy Krieger
Institute, FM Kirby Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Baltimore, MD, United States; 3 Neurology, Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
The major finding of the current study is that brain MRS performed at 3T reveals decreased levels of Glx in the frontal white matter
(FWM) of patients with HIV-associated dementia (HAD) compared to those without dementia. FWM Glx decreases were also
associated with poorer cognitive function, specifically impaired executive and fine motor functioning in HAD. 3T MRS measurements
of Glx may be a useful indicator of neuronal loss or dysfunction in patients with HIV infection.
Thursday 13:30-15:30 Computer 73
13:30 4270. Widespread and Different Distribution of Extrafocal NAA/(Cr+Cho) Reductions in
Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) with and Without Mesial Temporal Sclerosis
Susanne G. Mueller 1 , Andreas Ebel 1 , Jerome Barakos 2 , Cathy Scanlon 1 , Ian Cheong 1 ,
Daniel Finaly 1 , Paul Garcia 3 , Michael W. Weiner 1 , Kenneth D. Laxer 2
1 Dept. of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, UCSF, Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, San
Francisco, CA, United States; 2 Pacific Epilepsy Program, Califronia Pacific Medical Center; 3 Department of
Neurology, UCSF
14 TLE with mesial temporal lobe sclerosis (TLE-MTS)and 14 TLE with normal appearing hippocampi (TLE-no) and 18 healthy
volunteers were studied with a whole brain 3D EPSI at 4T. Widespread NAA/(Cr+Cho) reductions showing a considerable
intersubject variability were found in both groups. The distribution of these abnormalities was different in the two TLE groups. These
findings indicate that TLE-MTS and TLE-no are metabolically heterogeneous and might even represent different TLE entities.