RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Ultra-high-field imaging distinguishes MS lesions from asymptomatic white matter lesions
JF Neurology
JO Neurology
FD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
SP 534
OP 539
DO 10.1212/WNL.0b013e31820b7630
VO 76
IS 6
A1 E.C. Tallantyre
A1 J.E. Dixon
A1 I. Donaldson
A1 T. Owens
A1 P.S. Morgan
A1 P.G. Morris
A1 N. Evangelou
YR 2011
UL http://n.neurology.org/content/76/6/534.abstract
AB Objectives: To investigate whether multiple sclerosis (MS) and non-MS white matter brain lesions can be distinguished by their appearance on 7 T T2*-weighted MRI. Methods: This was an observational study of 28 patients with MS and 17 patients with cerebral white matter lesions who did not have MS. Subjects were imaged using 7 T T2*-weighted imaging. White matter lesions were identified and analyzed for volume, location, and perivenous appearance. Results: Out of 901 lesions identified in patients with MS, 80% were perivenous. In comparison, 19% of 428 lesions identified in patients without MS had a perivenous appearance. Seven-Tesla T2*-weighted MRI reliably distinguished all patients with clinically definite MS (>40% lesions appeared perivenous) from those without clinical MS (<40% lesions appeared perivenous). Perivenous lesion appearance was more predictive of MS (odds ratio [OR] 14, p < 0.001) than subcortical or periventricular lesion location (OR 4.5, p < 0.001, and OR 2.4, p = 0.009). Perivenous lesion appearance was observed with a similar frequency in patients with clinically isolated syndrome of demyelination and in early (gadolinium-enhancing) MS lesions. Conclusion: Perivenous lesion location on 7 T T2*-weighted imaging is predictive of the presence of demyelination. Optimization of this imaging technique at lower magnetic resonance field strengths would offer benefit for the diagnosis of MS.