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AJNR - American Journal of Neuroradiology

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Voxel-Based Analysis of Quantitative T1 Maps Demonstrates That Multiple Sclerosis Acts throughout the Normal-Appearing White Matter

H. Vrenken^a, S.A.R.B. Rombouts^b, P.J.W. Pouwels^b and F. Barkhof^a

^a MR Center for MS Research, Departments of Radiology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
^b Physics and Medical Technology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

View larger version (32K): [in a new window]   Fig 1. To analyze normal-appearing white matter (NAWM), MR visible lesions were excluded. Only voxels with data in 50% of subjects in each group were analyzed. The analyzed NAWM voxels are indicated in dark blue, as a reference to the statistical output maps of Figs 3 and 4.

View larger version (73K): [in a new window]   Fig 2. Mean T1 values in the 4 subject groups as fitted by the general linear model illustrate how T1 relaxation times increase throughout the normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) when going from control subjects (top row) to primary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) (second row) to relapsing-remitting MS (third row) to secondary progressive MS (bottom row). The color range represents the T1 range of 700 to 900 ms, as indicated by the color bar.

View larger version (78K): [in a new window]   Fig 3. Results of pairwise contrasts between multiple sclerosis (MS) groups (primary progressive [PP], relapsing-remitting [RR], and secondary progressive [SP]) and control subjects (C) are displayed as Z scores for PP MS > control subjects (top), RR MS > control subjects (middle), and SP MS > control subjects (bottom). The color range represents a Z score range of 3.1 to 8.0, as indicated by the color bar. Statistically significant T1 increases involve large fractions of normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) in RR and SP MS. The spatial extent of statistically significant T1 increases is small in PP MS.

View larger version (67K): [in a new window]   Fig 4. Results of pairwise contrasts of secondary progressive (SP) multiple sclerosis (MS) with relapsing-remitting (RR) MS (top, SP>RR) and with primary progressive (PP) MS (bottom, SP>PP) are displayed as Z scores. The color range represents a Z score range of 3.1–8.0, as indicated by the color bar. The effects of disease progression in RR/SP MS are visible as large areas with increased T1 in SP compared with RR MS. SP MS also has significantly higher T1 than PP MS in voxels throughout normal-appearing white matter (NAWM).