Synthetic MRI in Neurofibromatosis Type 1

• Published in: American journal of neuroradiology : AJNR 2021-09, Vol.42 (9), p.1709-1715
• Main Authors: Coban, G., Parlak, S., Gumeler, E., Altunbuker, H., Konuşkan, B., Karakaya, J., Anlar, B., Oguz, K.K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Pediatrics
• ISSN: 0195-6108; 1936-959X
• DOI: 10.3174/ajnr.A7214

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSESynthetic MRI enables the generation of various contrast-weighted images and quantitative data in a reasonable scanning time. We aimed to use synthetic MRI to assess the detection and underlying tissue characteristics of focal areas of signal intensity and normal-appearing brain parenchyma and morphometric alterations in the brains of patients with neurofibromatosis type 1. MATERIALS AND METHODSConventional MR imaging and synthetic MRI were prospectively obtained from 19 patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 and 18 healthy controls. Two neuroradiologists independently evaluated focal areas of signal intensity on both conventional MR imaging and synthetic MRI. Additionally, automatically segmented volume calculations of the brain in both groups and quantitative analysis of myelin, including the focal areas of signal intensity and normal-appearing brain parenchyma, of patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 were performed using synthetic MRI. RESULTSThe comparison of conventional MR imaging and synthetic MRI showed good correlation in the supratentorial region of the brain (κ = 0.82-1). Automatically segmented brain parenchymal volume, intracranial volume, and GM volumes were significantly increased in the patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (P