RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Evaluation of the Sensitivity of Inhomogeneous Magnetization Transfer (ihMT) MRI for Multiple Sclerosis
JF American Journal of Neuroradiology
JO Am. J. Neuroradiol.
FD American Society of Neuroradiology
SP 634
OP 641
DO 10.3174/ajnr.A5563
VO 39
IS 4
A1 E. Van Obberghen
A1 S. Mchinda
A1 A. le Troter
A1 V.H. Prevost
A1 P. Viout
A1 M. Guye
A1 G. Varma
A1 D.C. Alsop
A1 J.-P. Ranjeva
A1 J. Pelletier
A1 O. Girard
A1 G. Duhamel
YR 2018
UL http://www.ajnr.org/content/39/4/634.abstract
AB BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Inhomogeneous magnetization transfer is a new endogenous MR imaging contrast mechanism that has demonstrated high specificity for myelin. Here, we tested the hypothesis that inhomogeneous magnetization transfer is sensitive to pathology in a population of patients with relapsing-remitting MS in a way that both differs from and complements conventional magnetization transfer.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-five patients with relapsing-remitting MS and 20 healthy volunteers were enrolled in a prospective MR imaging research study, whose protocol included anatomic imaging, standard magnetization transfer, and inhomogeneous magnetization transfer imaging. Magnetization transfer and inhomogeneous magnetization transfer ratios measured in normal-appearing brain tissue and in MS lesions of patients were compared with values measured in control subjects. The potential association of inhomogeneous magnetization transfer ratio variations with the clinical scores (Expanded Disability Status Scale) of patients was further evaluated.RESULTS: The magnetization transfer ratio and inhomogeneous magnetization transfer ratio measured in the thalami and frontal, occipital, and temporal WM of patients with MS were lower compared with those of controls (P < .05). The mean inhomogeneous magnetization transfer ratio measured in lesions was lower than that in normal-appearing WM (P < .05). Significant (P < .05) negative correlations were found between the clinical scores and inhomogeneous magnetization transfer ratio measured in normal-appearing WM structures. Weaker nonsignificant correlation trends were found for the magnetization transfer ratio.CONCLUSIONS: The sensitivity of the inhomogeneous magnetization transfer technique for MS was highlighted by the reduction in the inhomogeneous magnetization transfer ratio in MS lesions and in normal-appearing WM of patients compared with controls. Stronger correlations with the Expanded Disability Status Scale score were obtained with the inhomogeneous magnetization transfer ratio compared with the standard magnetization transfer ratio, which may be explained by the higher specificity of inhomogeneous magnetization transfer for myelin.CCcorpus callosumEDSSExpanded Disability Status ScaleFWMfrontal WMICinternal capsuleihMTinhomogeneous magnetization transferihMTRinhomogeneous magnetization transfer ratioMTmagnetization transferMTRmagnetization transfer ratioOCCWMoccipital WMRRMSrelapsing-remitting MSTEMPWMtemporal WM