ISMRM: Advanced MRI techniques shed new light in multiple sclerosis

SINGAPORE – Quantitative MRI techniques offer valuable insights into diverse pathological processes underlying multiple sclerosis (MS), with these techniques poised for clinical use, according to a leading expert.In a presentation May 4 at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine annual meeting in Singapore, Cornelia Laule, PhD, of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, gave an overview of quantitative MRI findings in MS and discussed how they are enabling a more complete understanding of the disease.“Clinical MRI scans are very sensitive to damage within the [central nervous system]; however, conventional MRI measures such as lesion volume and brain atrophy do not fully capture the complexity and heterogeneity of MS pathology,” she said.Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS). While MS lesions may appear bright on standard proton density and T2-weighted MRI images, the underlying pathology can include edema, inflammation, demyelination, axonal loss and gliosis, Laule noted.Thus, there is a need for more advanced MRI techniques that can provide additional information on the metabolic and microstructural aspects of MS tissue pathology, clinical progression, and response to therapy, she said.Specifically, techniques Laule focused on included the following:Magnetization transfer imaging: this technique examines the magnetization exchange between macromolecules and water and provides a marke...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: ISMRM 2024 Source Type: news