Diffusion tensor MRI of the healthy brachial plexus
Oudeman, Jos; Verhamme, Camiel; Engbersen, Maurits P.; Caan, Mattan W.A.; Maas, Mario; Froeling, Martijn; Nederveen, Aart J.; Strijkers, Gustav J.
(2018) PLoS ONE, volume 13, issue 5, pp. 1 - 15
(Article)
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Diffusion Tensor MRI (DT-MRI) is a promising tool for the evaluation of brachial plexus pathology. Therefore, we introduce and evaluate a fast DT-MRI protocol (8min33s scanning with 5-10 min postprocessing time) for the brachial plexus. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty healthy volunteers within three age-groups (18-35, 36-55, and > 56)
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received DT-MRI of the brachial-plexus twice. Means of fractional-anisotropy (FA), mean-diffusivity (MD), axial-diffusivity (AD), and radial-diffusivity (RD) for the individual roots and trunks were evaluated. A stepwise forward approach was applied to test for correlations with age, sex, body-mass-index (BMI), bodysurface, height, and bodyweight. Within-subject, intra-rater, and inter-rater repeatability were assessed using Bland-Altman analysis, coefficient of variation (CV), intraclass-correlation (ICC), and minimal detectable difference (MDD). RESULTS: No differences between sides and root levels were found. MD, AD, and RD correlated (P < 0.05) with bodyweight. Within-subject quantification proved repeatable with CVs for FA, MD, AD, and RD of 16%, 12%, 11%, and 14%, respectively. DISCUSSION: The DT-MRI protocol was fast and repeatable. Found correlations should be considered in future studies of brachial plexus pathology.
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Keywords: Tractography, Nerve fibers, Magnetic resonance imaging, Anisotropy, Nerves, Fats, Echo planar imaging, Linear regression analysis, Echo-Planar Imaging/methods, Humans, Middle Aged, Nerve Fibers/physiology, Linear Models, Male, Young Adult, Adolescent, Adult, Female, Aged, Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods, Fats/metabolism, Brachial Plexus/diagnostic imaging, Diffusion Tensor Imaging/methods, General Agricultural and Biological Sciences, General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Journal Article
ISSN: 1932-6203
Publisher: Public Library of Science
Note: Funding Information: This work was supported by grant 1203-055 from the Nuts-Ohra Foundation (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). This work was also supported by the European Union COST Action BM1304, "Applications of MR imaging and spectroscopy techniques in neuromuscular disease: collaboration on outcome measures and pattern recognition for diagnostics and therapy development.” The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 Oudeman et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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