American Journal of Neuroradiology 21:1885-1891 (11 2000)
© 2000 American Society of Neuroradiology
ARTICLE
A Comparison of Magnetization Transfer Ratio, Magnetization Transfer Rate, and the Native Relaxation Time of Water Protons Related to Relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis
a From the Department of Neurology (S.R., S.S-F., M.A., C.E., H-P.H. F.F.), Magnetic Resonance Institute (S.R., R.S., F.F.), Karl-Franzens University of Graz, Austria.
b Address reprint requests to Franz Fazekas, MD, Department of Neurology, Karl-Franzens University, Auenbruggerplatz 22, A-8036 Graz, Austria.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Magnetization transfer (MT) imaging and measurements of the magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) have extended our capability to depict and characterize pathologic changes associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). We wanted to investigate whether the analysis of other MT parameters, such as magnetization transfer rate (kfor) and relative measure of water content (T1free), adds insight into MS-related tissue changes.
METHODS: Quantitative MT imaging by use of phase acquisition of composite echoes was performed in nine patients with clinically definite relapsing-remitting MS and eight healthy control subjects on a 1.5-T MR system. We analyzed a total of 360 regions of interest and compared control white matter with various types of lesions and normal-appearing white matter in MS.
RESULTS: We found a strong correlation between the MTR and kfor, but this relation was non-linear. A slight but significant reduction of the MTR in normal-appearing white matter of patients with MS was attributable to a reduced transfer rate only, whereas a lower MTR was associated with both a reduction of kfor and an increase of T1free in regions of dirty white matter. Moreover, areas such as edema and T1-isointense lesions had a similar MTR but could be differentiated on the basis of T1free.
CONCLUSION: Estimates of kfor and T1free appear to complement MTR measurements for the understanding of MT changes that occur with different types of MS abnormalities in the brain.
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