Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 17, 2026
Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Multiple Sclerosis at 7.0 Tesla
Published on: February 19, 2021
Iron deposition in the precentral grey matter in patients with multiple sclerosis: a quantitative study using
Reshiana Rumzan1, Jing-jie Wang, Chun Zeng
1Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, No. 1 Youyi Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing 400016, China. minouchka_16@yahoo.com
Purpose:
Several studies suggest that iron deposition may play a role in multiple sclerosis (MS) pathology. Three-dimensional (3D) enhanced T2*-weighted angiography (ESWAN) at 3T was used to quantify iron deposition in the precentral grey matter in MS and its relationship with disease duration, atrophy and Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores.
Methods:
We recruited 33 patients with diagnosis of clinically definite MS and 31 age- and sex-matched healthy controls who underwent conventional brain MRI, 3D-ESWAN and 3D T1sequences. We obtained the mean phase values (MPVs) of the precentral grey matter on ESWAN-filtered phase images and volume of the precentral gyrus on 3D T1 images. We investigated the correlation between precentral grey matter MPVs, precentral gyrus volume, disease duration and EDSS scores of MS patients and healthy controls.
Results:
The precentral grey matter MPVs in MS patients and controls were 1870.83 ± 56.61 and 1899.22 ± 51.73 respectively and had significant difference in the MS group vs. the control group (t=-2.09, P=0.04). There was significant negative correlation between precentral grey matter MPVs and disease duration (r=-0.365, P=0.03). No correlation was found between MPVs and EDSS scores. Mean precentral gyrus volume in MS patients was 4368.55 ± 867.78 whereas in controls was 5701.00 ± 1184.03 with significant difference between volume of the precentral gyrus in MS patients compared to healthy controls (t=-5.167, P<0.001). There was a positive correlation between MPVs and precentral gyrus volume (r=0.291, P=0.020).
Conclusions:
Our study demonstrated that quantitative assessment of abnormal iron deposition in the precentral grey matter in MS patients can be measured using 3D-ESWAN.
