Brain Age Modeling and Cognitive Outcomes in Young Adults With and Without Sickle Cell Anemia.

Importance: Both sickle cell anemia (SCA) and socioeconomic status have been associated with altered brain structure and cognitive disability, yet precise mechanisms underlying these associations are unclear.

Objective: To determine whether brains of individuals with and without SCA appear older than chronological age and if brain age modeling using brain age gap (BAG) can estimate cognitive outcomes and mediate the association of socioeconomic status and disease with these outcomes.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this cross-sectional study of 230 adults with and without SCA, individuals underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and cognitive assessment.

Intracranial aneurysms in sickle cell disease are associated with hemodynamic stress and anemia.

Although hemodynamic stress plays a key role in aneurysm formation outside of sickle cell disease (SCD), its role is understudied in patients with SCD. We hypothesized that tissue-based markers of hemodynamic stress are associated with aneurysm presence in a prospective SCD cohort. Children and adults with SCD, with and without aneurysms, underwent longitudinal brain magnetic resonance imaging/magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) to assess cerebral blood flow (CBF) and oxygen extraction fraction (OEF).

Toward Automated Detection of Silent Cerebral Infarcts in Children and Young Adults With Sickle Cell Anemia.

Background: Silent cerebral infarcts (SCI) in sickle cell anemia (SCA) are associated with future strokes and cognitive impairment, warranting early diagnosis and treatment. Detection of SCI, however, is limited by their small size, especially when neuroradiologists are unavailable. We hypothesized that deep learning may permit automated SCI detection in children and young adults with SCA as a tool to identify the presence and extent of SCI in clinical and research settings.

Evaluating the effect of a post-processing algorithm in detection of annular fissure on MR imaging.

Background And Purpose: Visualization of annular fissures on MRI is becoming increasingly important but remains challenging. Our purpose was to test whether an image processing algorithm could improve detection of annular fissures.

Materials And Methods: In this retrospective study, two neuroradiologists identified 56 IVDs with annular fissures and 97 IVDs with normal annulus fibrosus in lumbar spine MRIs of 101 patients (58 M, 43 F; age ± SD 15.

ACR Appropriateness Criteria Head Trauma.

Neuroimaging plays an important role in the management of head trauma. Several guidelines have been published for identifying which patients can avoid neuroimaging. Noncontrast head CT is the most appropriate initial examination in patients with minor or mild acute closed head injury who require neuroimaging as well as patients with moderate to severe acute closed head injury.