Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2026
Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Multiple Sclerosis at 7.0 Tesla
Published on: February 19, 2021
Cervical cord magnetization transfer ratio and clinical changes over 18 months in patients with relapsing-remitting
A Charil1, D Caputo, R Cavarretta
1Department of Neurology, Neuroimaging Research Unit, Scientific Institute and University Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.
Background:
Magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) permits the quantitative estimation of cervical cord tissue damage in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Objective:
To determine whether a single time-point MTR scan of the cervical cord is associated with short-term disease evolution in patients with relapsing-remitting (RR) MS.
Methods:
Using a 1.5-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system with a tailored cervical cord phased array coil, fast short-tau inversion recovery (fast-STIR) and MTR scans were obtained from 14 untreated patients with RRMS at baseline. Cervical cord MTR histograms were derived. Over the 18-month follow-up period, relapse rate was measured and disability assessed by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score.
Results:
Average cervical cord MTR was correlated with relapse rate (r= -0.56, P=0.037). A moderate correlation (r values ranging from -0.33 to -0.36) between baseline cervical cord MTR metrics and EDSS changes over 18 months was also noted, albeit statistical significance was not reached (P = 0.26 and 0.21, respectively) perhaps because of the relatively small sample size.
Conclusions:
This study suggests that a 'snapshot' MT MRI assessment of the cervical cord may detect cervical cord tissue changes associated with short-term disease evolution in RRMS.
