Contribution of Metals to Brain MR Signal Intensity: Review Articles

Overview

Journal Jpn J Radiol

Publisher Springer

Specialty Radiology

Date 2016 Mar 3

PMID 26932404

Citations 17

Authors

Tomonori Kanda

Yudai Nakai

Shuri Aoki

Hiroshi Oba

Keiko Toyoda

Kazuhiro Kitajima

Shigeru Furui

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Various metals are essential nutrients in humans, and metal shortages lead to a variety of deficiency diseases. Metal concentration abnormalities may cause metal deposition in the brain, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the most potent and sensitive technique now available for detecting metal deposition given the difficulties associated with performing brain tissue biopsy. However, the brain contains many kinds of metals that affect the signal intensity of MRI, which has led to numerous misunderstandings in the history of metal analysis. We reviewed the history of brain metal analysis with histologic findings. Typically, manganese overload causes high signal intensity on T1-weighted images (T1WI) in the globus pallidus, iron overload causes low signal intensity in the globus pallidus on T2-weighted images, and gadolinium deposition causes high signal intensity in the dentate nucleus, globus pallidus, and pulvinar of thalamus on T1WI. However, because nonparamagnetic materials and other coexisting metals also affect the signal intensity of brain MRI, the quantitative analysis of metal concentrations is difficult. Thus, when analyzing metal deposition using MRI, caution should be exercised when interpreting the validity and reliability of the obtained data.

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