Abstract
Background: Diffuse abnormalities are known to occur within the brain tissue of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients thatis normal appearing on T1-weighted and T2-weighted magnetic resonance images.Objectives: With the goal of exploring the sensitivity of novel MRI parameters to detect such abnormalities, weimplemented an inversion-prepared magnetization transfer (MT) protocol and adiabatic T1ρ and T2ρrotating framerelaxation methods.Methods: Nine relapsing-remitting MS patients and seven healthy controls were recruited. Relaxation parameters weremeasured in a single slice just above the lateral ventricles and approximately parallel to the AC-PC line.Results: The MT ratio of regions encompassing the normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) was different in MSpatients as compared with controls (p = 0.043); however, the T1 measured during off-resonance irradiation (T1sat) wassubstantially more sensitive than the MT ratio for detecting differences between groups (p = 0.0006). Adiabatic T1ρwassignificantly prolonged in the NAWM of MS patents as compared to controls (by 6%, p = 0.026), while no differenceswere found among groups for T2ρ. No differences among groups were observed in the cortical gray matter for anyrelaxation parameter.Conclusions: The results suggest degenerative processes occurring in the NAWM of MS, likely not accompanied bysignificant abnormalities in iron content.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1066-1073 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Multiple Sclerosis Journal |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 2014 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- MRI
- adiabatic pulses
- inversion-prepared MT
- multiple sclerosis
- relapsing-remitting
- rotating frame relaxation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neurology
- Clinical Neurology