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Marchiafava-Bignami disease (MBD) is a rare pathological condition characterized by progressive demyelination and necrosis of the corpus callosum (CC). MBD occurs in patients with chronic alcoholism although a few non-alcoholic cases have been reported. We describe a non-alcoholic, depressed patient, who developed MBD after psycho-active drug abuse. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) disclosed bilateral, symmetric, hyperintense regions in the genu, body and splenium of the CC associated with increased water diffusivity. Clinical and MRI findings showed a partial recovery after tapering/modification of psycho-active drugs. We reviewed the nine cases of non-alcoholic MBD reported in the literature. We conclude that most cases should have been diagnosed as a reversible isolated splenial lesion (MERS), a recently described condition semiotically similar to MBD but with a specific localization, restricted water diffusivity and reversibility at MRI. In conclusion, MBD is an extremely rare condition in non-alcoholic patients and the use of MRI for distinguishing between MBD and MERS is crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the article "Subependymal heterotopia: US and MR diffusion tensor imaging," by B. Matarrelli and colleagues is presented.

An abstract of the article "Transient CSF-like cystic lesion of the fetal brain: MRI and Ultrasound," by M. Caulo and colleagues, is presented.

Purpose: The head of the hippocampus (H) is classically described as having two to four digitations both in ex vivo specimens and in vivo MR coronal images. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a new MR-based classification of the anatomical variants of the hippocampal head in a large sample population of healthy subjects., Methods: MR images of the brain of 238 young healthy subjects (138 men and 100 women; age range 18-39) were analyzed. The head of the H was identified on coronal reformatted 3D T1 weighted MR images. The frequencies were reported for hemisphere and sex. Inter-rater reliability was assessed., Results: Eight variants of the hippocampal head were described. Class 0 (11.4%) indicated a total absence of sulci. This class was further subdivided as follows: 0A (one digitation, 10.1%) and 0B (no digitations or "null variant", 1.3%). Class 1 (25.6%) presented a single sulcus and was further subdivided into four types according to the location and the width of the sulcus [1A (8.8%), 1B (12.8%), 1C (1.3%), and 1D (2.7%)]. Class 2 (63.0%, the most frequent and the classical variant) had two symmetrical sulci and three digitations. Statistically significant differences between the two hemispheres were observed only in women and overall. Differences in prevalence between sexes were not observed., Conclusions: The large study population allowed the description of a novel morphological classification of the different anatomical variants of normal H in the coronal plane. This classification could reduce the risk of misinterpreting normal anatomical variants as pathological.

Purpose: To grade brain gliomas by using a data-driven analysis of multiparametric magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, taking into account the heterogeneity of the lesions at MR imaging, and to compare these results with the most widespread current radiologic reporting methods., Materials and Methods: One hundred eighteen patients with histologically confirmed brain gliomas were evaluated retrospectively. Conventional and advanced MR sequences (perfusion-weighted imaging, MR spectroscopy, and diffusion-tensor imaging) were performed. Three evaluations were conducted: semiquantitative (based on conventional and advanced sequences with reported cutoffs), qualitative (exclusively based on conventional MR imaging), and quantitative. For quantitative analysis, four volumes of interest were placed: regions with contrast material enhancement, regions with highest and lowest signal intensity on T2-weighted images, and regions of most restricted diffusivity. Statistical analysis included t test, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, discriminant function analysis (DFA), leave-one-out cross-validation, and Kendall coefficient of concordance., Results: Significant differences were noted in age, relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) in contrast-enhanced regions (cutoff > 2.59; sensitivity, 80%; specificity, 91%; area under the ROC curve [AUC] = 0.937; P = .0001), areas of lowest signal intensity on T2-weighted images (>2.45, 57%, 97%, 0.852, and P = .0001, respectively), restricted diffusivity regions (>2.61, 54%, 97%, 0.808, and P = .0001, respectively), and choline/creatine ratio in regions with the lowest signal intensity on T2-weighted images (>2.07, 49%, 88%, 0.685, and P = .0007, respectively). DFA that included age; rCBV in contrast-enhanced regions, areas of lowest signal intensity on T2-weighted images, and areas of restricted diffusivity; and choline/creatine ratio in areas with lowest signal intensity on T2-weighted images was used to classify 95% of patients correctly. Quantitative analysis showed a higher concordance with histologic findings than qualitative and semiquantitative methods (P < .0001)., Conclusion: A quantitative multiparametric MR imaging evaluation that incorporated heterogeneity at MR imaging significantly improved discrimination between low- and high-grade brain gliomas with a very high AUC (ie, 0.95), thus reducing the risk of inappropriate or delayed surgery, respectively.

Background and Purpose: fcMRI measures spontaneous and synchronous fluctuations of BOLD signal between spatially remote brain regions. The present study investigated potential LN fcMRI modifications induced by left hemisphere brain gliomas., Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated fcMRI in 39 right-handed patients with a left hemisphere brain glioma and 13 healthy controls. Patients and controls performed a verb-generation task to identify individual BOLD activity in the left IFG (Broca area); the active region was used as seed to create whole-brain background connectivity maps and to identify the LN (including bilateral regions of the IFG, STS, and TPJ) following regression of task-evoked activity. We assessed differences between patients and controls in the pattern of functional connectivity of the LN, as well as potential effects of tumor position, histopathology, and volume., Results: Global fcMRI of the LN was significantly reduced in patients with tumor compared with controls. Specifically, fcMRI was significantly reduced within seed regions of the affected hemisphere (left intrahemispheric fcMRI) and between the TPJ of the 2 hemispheres. In patients, the left TPJ node showed the greatest decrease of functional connectivity within the LN., Conclusions: The presence of a brain tumor in the left hemisphere significantly reduced the degree of fcMRI between language-related brain regions. The pattern of fcMRI was influenced by tumor position but was not restricted to the area immediately surrounding the tumor because the connectivity between remote and contralateral areas was also affected.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to evaluate connectivity modifications in the Default Mode Network (DMN) in patients with cerebral glioma, and to correlate these modifications to tumor characteristics., Methods: Twenty-four patients with a left-hemisphere cerebral tumor (14 grade II and 10 grade IV gliomas) and 14 healthy age-matched right-hand volunteers were enrolled in the study. Subjects underwent fMRI while performing language tasks for presurgical mapping. Data was analyzed with independent component analysis in order to identify the DMN. DMN group maps were produced by random-effect analysis (p<0.001, FDR-corrected). An analysis of variance across the three groups (p<0.05) and post-hoc t-test contrasts between pairs of groups were calculated (p<0.05, FDR-corrected)., Results: All three groups showed typical DMN areas. However, reduced DMN connectivity was detected in tumor patients with respect to controls. A significantly increased and reduced integration of DMN areas was observed in the hippocampal and prefrontal regions, respectively. Modifications were closely related to tumor grading. Moreover, the DMN lateralized to the hemisphere contralateral to tumor in the low-grade, but not in the high-grade tumor patients., Conclusion: Modifications of DMN connectivity were induced by gliomas and differed for high and low grade tumors.

Background and Purpose: An alternative technique, which is less influenced by tumor- and patient-related factors, is required to overcome the limits of GLM analysis of fMRI data in patients. The aim of this study was to statistically assess differences in the identification of language regions and hemispheric lateralization of language function between controls and patients as estimated by both the GLM and a novel combined ICA-GLM procedure., Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 42 patients with pathologically confirmed brain gliomas of the left frontal and/or temporoparietal lobes and a control group of 14 age-matched healthy volunteers who underwent BOLD fMRI to lateralize language functions in the cerebral hemispheres. Data were processed by using a classic GLM and ICA-GLM., Results: ICA-GLM demonstrated a higher sensitivity in detecting language activation, specifically in the left TPJ of patients. There were no significant differences between the GLM and ICA-GLM in controls; however, statistically significant differences were observed by using ICA-GLM for the LI in patients. For the computation of the LI, ICA-GLM was less influenced by the chosen statistical threshold compared with the GLM., Conclusions: We suggest the use of the ICA-GLM as a valid alternative to the classic GLM method for presurgical mapping in patients with brain tumors and to replicate the present results in a broader sample of patients.

Background and Purpose: Subtle linguistic dysfunction and reorganization of the language network were described in patients with epilepsy, suggesting the occurrence of plasticity changes. We used resting state FC-MRI to investigate the effects induced by chronic epilepsy on the connectivity of the language-related brain regions and correlated it with language performance., Materials and Methods: FC-MRI was evaluated in 22 right-handed patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (11 with LE and 11 with RE) and in 12 healthy volunteers. Neuropsychological assessment of verbal IQ was performed. Patients and controls underwent BOLD fMRI with a verb-generation task, and language function was lateralized by an LI. Intrinsic activity fluctuations for FC analysis were extracted from data collected during the task. Six seeding cortical regions for speech in both hemispheres were selected to obtain a measure of the connectivity pattern among the language networks., Results: Patients with LE presented atypical language lateralization and an overall reduced connectivity of the language network with respect to controls. In patients with both LE and RE, the mean FC was significantly reduced within the left (dominant) hemisphere and between the 2 hemispheres. In patients with LE, there was a positive correlation between verbal IQ scores and the left intrahemispheric FC., Conclusions: In patients with intractable epilepsy, FC-MRI revealed an overall reduction and reorganization of the connectivity pattern within the language network. FC was reduced in the left hemisphere regardless of the epileptogenic focus side and was positively correlated with linguistic performance only in patients with LE.

Background and Purpose: The hand motor cortex (HMC) has been classically described as having an omega or epsilon shape in axial-plane images obtained with CT and MR imaging. The aim of this study was to use MR imaging and Talairach normalization in a large sample population that was homogeneous for age and handedness to evaluate in a sex model a new classification with 5 morphologic variants of the HMC in the axial plane (omega, medially asymmetric epsilon, epsilon, laterally asymmetric epsilon, and null)., Materials and Methods: Structural brain MR images were obtained from 257 right-handed healthy subjects (143 men and 114 women; mean age, 23.1 +/- 1.1 years) via a Talairach space transformed 3D magnetization-prepared rapid acquisition of gradient echo sequence. The frequencies of the different HMC variants were reported for hemisphere and sex., Results: The new variants of the HMC (medially asymmetric epsilon, laterally asymmetric epsilon, and null) were observed in 2.9%, 7.0%, and 1.8% of the hemispheres, respectively. Statistically significant sex differences were observed: The epsilon variant was twice as frequent in men, and an interhemispheric concordance for morphologic variants was observed only for women., Conclusion: The large study population permitted the description of a new morphologic classification that included 3 new variants of the HMC. This new morphologic classification should facilitate the identification of the precentral gyrus in subsequent studies and in everyday practice.