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Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Multiple Sclerosis at 7.0 Tesla
Published on: February 19, 2021
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MR myelin imaging in multiple sclerosis: A scoping review
Ibrahim Khormi1, Oun Al-Iedani2, Abdulaziz Alshehri3
1School of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia; Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, Australia; College of Applied Medical Sciences, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Journal of the Neurological Sciences
|November 30, 2023
Summary
Advanced MRI techniques show promise for tracking myelin repair in multiple sclerosis (MS). These methods correlate with clinical assessments, aiding the evaluation of new myelin repair therapies for MS patients.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Neurology
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Conventional MRI struggles to quantify myelin damage in multiple sclerosis (MS).
- New therapeutic strategies focus on myelin repair due to limitations of current disease-modifying therapies.
- Histological validation and clinical correlation are essential for evaluating myelin repair therapeutics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify myelin imaging methods used in MS research.
- To assess the histological validation of these imaging techniques.
- To determine the correlation between myelin imaging metrics and clinical assessments in people with MS (pwMS).
Main Methods:
- A scoping review of two databases (1990-2022) for studies on adults with MS.
- Included studies utilized MRI/MR-histology of the MS brain.
- Focus on relaxometry, magnetization transfer, and quantitative susceptibility imaging techniques.
Main Results:
- Relaxometry, particularly myelin water fraction (MWF), was the most common metric.
- Significantly lower MWF in pwMS compared to healthy controls was observed.
- Magnetization transfer ratio and quantitative susceptibility indicated myelin breakdown and iron accumulation in lesions.
- Several myelin imaging metrics correlated with disability, disease severity, and duration.
Conclusions:
- Advanced MRI techniques like relaxometry, magnetization transfer, and quantitative susceptibility show potential for myelin imaging in MS.
- These methods demonstrate histological validity and correlate with clinical outcomes in pwMS.
- Myelin imaging holds promise for evaluating the efficacy of novel myelin repair therapies.
