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Background: Crossfit athletes consistently recruit or transfer high levels of repetitive forces through the spine, and MRI has documented a higher rate of intervertebral disc degeneration in athletes compared with matched controls. The aim of this study was to evaluate early degenerative spinal disc changes in elite female CrossFit athletes quantified by 3.0 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) matched with female none-athletes. Methods: In a cross-sectional single-center study 19 asymptomatic adult participants, nine German female elite Crossfit athletes and ten female participants underwent spinal MRI (3.0T). Demographic data, spinal clinical examination results and sport-specific performance parameters were collected prior to the MRI. The primary outcome was the prevalence of degenerative spinal disc changes. The secondary outcome was the grade of degeneration using Pfirrmann grading. Results: A total of 437 discs underwent spinal MRI (3.0T). The prevalence of early degenerative disc disease was not increased. Pfirrmann degenerative grade did not show significant differences among groups. Conclusion: Asymptomatic female elite Crossfit athletes do not show an increased prevalence of degenerative disc disease. Compared to a sex-matched control group, high training volume in Crossfit does not correlate to a higher incidence of degenerative disc changes in young females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As an advanced imaging technique for the human brain, the importance of magnetic resonance imaging technique (MRI) is indisputable. The study aims to contribute to the literature by imaging post-mortem human brain hemispheres fixed with the Klinger method through the a 3.0 Tesla MRI Scanner and by defining the supratentorial major white matter tracts and central core anatomical structures. Methods: In our study, 10 post-mortem human brain hemisphere specimens were placed in 10% formalin solution for at least two months according to the Klingler method. The images were obtained using a 3.0 Tesla MRI Scanner. Anatomical structures were described on the T1-T2 axial, coronal, and sagittal MRI sections and compared with control images obtained from healthy humans. Results: Our examination revealed major association fibers, the basal cores and nuclei were denser, and the connections between them were clearly visible. The basal nuclei particularly were visualized more clearly compared with the normal MRI examinations. The claustrum, putamen, lateral and medial part of globus pallidus, and the caudolenticular bridges of the caudate nucleus could be clearly distinguished. The optic radiation line toward the occipital area as well as the forceps major and minor were distinct in the axial sections. Meanwhile, the imaging emphasized the importance of temporal stem, and the fibers it contained were clearly observed in the coronal sections. Conclusion: The use of hemispheres fixed using the Klinger method in post-mortem MRI examinations on brain hemispheres showed a clear separation of white matter fibers and nuclear structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to optimize ankle joint MR imaging in volunteers at 1.5 Tesla (T) and 3.0 T, and to compare these optimized sequences concerning image quality and performance in assessing cartilage, ligament and tendon pathology in fresh human cadaver specimens. Initially our clinical ankle protocol consisting of T1-weighted (-w), fat-saturated (fs) T2-w, and short tau inversion-recovery fast spinecho (FSE) sequences was optimized at 1.5 T and 3.0 T by two radiologists. For dedicated cartilage imaging, fs-intermediate (IM)-w FSE, fs spoiled gradient echo, and balanced free-precession steady-state sequences were optimized. Using the optimized sequences, thirteen cadaver ankle joints were imaged. Four radiologists independently assessed these images concerning image quality and pathology. All radiologists consistently rated image quality higher at 3.0 T (all sequences p<0.05). For detecting cartilage pathology, diagnostic performance was significantly higher at 3.0 T (ROC-values up to 0.93 vs. 0.77; p<0.05); the fs-IM FSE sequence showed highest values among the different sequences. Average sensitivity for detecting tendon pathology was 63% at 3.0 T vs. 41% at 1.5 T and was significantly higher at 3.0 T for 2 out of 4 radiologists (p<0.05). Compared to 1.5 T, imaging of the ankle joint at 3.0 T significantly improved image quality and diagnostic performance in assessing cartilage pathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intravenous administration of a standard dose of conventional gadolinium-based contrast agents produces higher contrast between the tumor and normal brain at 3.0 Tesla (T) than at 1.5 T, which allows reducing the dose to half of the standard one to produce similar contrast at 3.0 T compared to 1.5 T. The assessment of cumulative triple-dose 3.0 T images obtained the best results in the detection of brain metastases compared to other sequences. The contrast agent dose for dynamic susceptibility-weighted contrast-enhanced perfusion MR imaging at 3.0 T can be reduced to 0.1 mmol compared to 0.2 mmol at 1.5 T due to the increased susceptibility effects at higher magnetic field strengths. Contrast agent application makes susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) at 3.0 T clinically attractive, with an increase in spatial resolution within the same scan time. Whereas a double dose of conventional gadolinium-based contrast agents was optimal in SWI with respect to sensitivity and image quality, a standard dose of gadobenate dimeglumine, which has a two-fold higher T1-relaxivity in blood, produced the same effect. For MR-arthrography, optimized concentrations of gadolinium-based contrast agents are similar at 3.0 and 1.5 T. In summary, high field MRI requires the optimization of the contrast agent dose in different clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]