OBJECTIVE This study examines the utility of MRI, including T2 maps and T2 maps corrected for muscle fat content, in evaluating patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathy. METHODS A total of 44 patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathy, 18 of whom were evaluated after treatment with rituximab, underwent MRI of the thighs and detailed clinical assessment. T2, fat fraction (FF) and fat...

Background MRI cardiac T2-mapping visualizes edema and has been used for tissue characterization in settings such as myocarditis and ischemia. Clinically it is typically performed via spin-echo based techniques, but preclinically, the high heart rates of rats and mice make such approaches sensitive to motion. Successful implementations instead employ T2-preparation followed by a segmented gradi...

Recent advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques allow the assessment of iron overload in tissues 1 especially the heart, 2 in transfusion-dependent thalassemia patients. The R2* value (1/T2*) recorded in the intraventricular septum of the heart indirectly measures the degree of cardiac iron load. Applying this new technology we looked at a number of historical and biochemical par...

Cardiovascular implantable electronic devices represent important limitations to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Recently, MRI-conditional dual chamber pacemakers and leads have become available. We describe a case of a patient with neuro-sarcoidosis presenting with diplopia and hydrocephalus requiring an MRI-conditional programmable ventriculo-peritoneal shunt, who developed complete heart b...

Background Chronic heart failure (CHF) is the leading hospital discharge diagnosis in patients over age 65 [1]. Emerging techniques in cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) have resulted in unique opportunity for improvement of non-invasive assessment of the physiologic and anatomic effects of CHF. We have previously demonstrated the accuracy and feasibility of V̇O2 max measurements in the MRI...

BACKGROUND The function of the endplate (EP) is the most important factor influencing nutritional supply to the avascular intervertebral disc (IVD). It is desired to have a non-invasive method to assess functional EP characteristics in vivo. Assessment of functional EP characteristics is important in order to understand its relation to IVD degeneration, which in turn might deepen the understand...

Background Iron deficiency can be related to patients with chronic heart failure. Although T2* mapping by MRI could be used as a non-invasive interrogator for the assessment of the iron loading, unfortunately the result is only with limited success. Quantitative susceptibility mapping is a further development using susceptibility weighted image. Previous studies suggested a strong linear co-rel...