Background: Acupuncture has been proven to be effective as an alternative therapy in treating migraine, but the pathophysiological mechanisms of the treatment remain unclear. This study investigated possible neurochemical responses to acupuncture treatment. Patients and methods: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging was used to investigate biochemical levels pre- and post-acupuncture treatment. Participants (N=45) included subjects diagnosed with: 1) migraine without aura; 2) cervicogenic headache; and 3) healthy controls. Participants in the two patient groups received verum acupuncture using acupoints that target migraine without aura but not cervicogenic headache, while the healthy controls received a sham treatment. All participants had magnetic resonance spectroscopy scans before and after the acupuncture therapy. Levels of brain metabolites were examined in relation to clinical headache assessment scores. Results: A significant increase in N-acetylaspartate/creatine was observed in bilateral thalamus in migraine without aura after the acupuncture treatment, which was significantly correlated with the headache intensity score. Conclusion: The data demonstrate brain biochemical changes underlying the effect of acupuncture treatment of migraine.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and whether synthetic MRI can benefit diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).Materials and Methods: Eighteen patients and eighteen age-matched normal controls (NCs) underwent MR examination. The mini-mental state examination (MMSE) scores were obtained from all patients. The whole brain volumetric characteristics, T1, T2, and proton density (PD) values of different cortical and subcortical regions were obtained. The volumetric characteristics and brain regional relaxation values between AD patients and NCs were compared using independent-samples t-test. The correlations between these quantitative parameters and MMSE score were assessed by the Pearson correlation in AD patients.Results: Although the larger volume of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), lower brain parenchymal volume (BPV), and the ratio of brain parenchymal volume to intracranial volume (BPV/ICV) were found in AD patients compared with NCs, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05). T1 values of right insula cortex and T2 values of left hippocampus and right insula cortex were significantly higher in AD patients than in NCs, but T1 values of left caudate showed a reverse trend (p < 0.05). As the MMSE score decreased in AD patients, the BPV and BPV/ICV decreased, while the volume of CSF and T1 values of bilateral insula cortex and bilateral hippocampus as well as T2 values of bilateral hippocampus increased (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Synthetic MRI not only provides more information to differentiate AD patients from normal controls, but also reflects the disease severity of AD.

Objective: This study aimed to compare the potential of monoexponential model (MEM), intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) model, kurtosis model, and IVIM–kurtosis model in the diagnosis and aggressiveness assessment of prostate cancer (PCa). Materials and Methods: Thirty-six patients were recruited. Diffusion-weighted images were acquired on a 3.0-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system using 0 b values up to 2,000 s/mm² and analyzed using four models: MEM (ADC_MEM), IVIM (D_IVIM, D*_IVIM, f _IVIM), kurtosis (D_kurtosis, K_kurtosis), and IVIM–kurtosis (D_{IVIM−kurtosis}, D*_{IVIM−kurtosis}, f_{IVIM−kurtosis}, D_{IVIM−kurtosis}) models. The values of these parameters were calculated and compared between PCa, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and prostatitis. Correlations between these parameters and the Gleason score (GS) of PCa were evaluated using the Pearson test. Results: Forty-five lesions were studied, including 18 PCa, 12 prostatitis, and 15 BPH lesions. The ADC_MEM, D_IVIM, f_IVIM, D_kurtosis, and D_{IVIM−kurtosis} values were significantly lower and K_kurtosis and K_{IVIM−kurtosis} values were significantly higher in PCa compared with prostatitis and BPH. The area under the curve (AUC) of ADC_MEM showed significantly higher values than that of f_IVIM and K_{IVIM−kurtosis}, but no statistical differences were found between the other parameters. The D*_{IVIM−kurtosis} value correlated negatively and f_{IVIM−kurtosis} and K_{IVIM−kurtosis} values correlated positively with the GS. Conclusion: The MEM, IVIM, kurtosis, and IVIM–kurtosis models were all useful for the diagnosis of PCa, and the diagnostic efficacy seemed to be similar. The IVIM–kurtosis model may be superior to the MEM, IVIM, and kurtosis models in the grading of PCa.

Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology