3T MR Imaging - Things Hidden, Becoming Visible in MS

[lady_express_44]

"Things that we didn't know about before, but seem to be happening in MS.
Here are two more studies where advanced imaging is finding new things in MS.

The first [413] study found that when done correctly and with a strong enough MRI, blood brain barrier (BBB) disruption can be detected in non-enhancing lesions, something that was previously unknown."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17468443&dopt=Abstract

"The second [414] study found that using a strong (3T) MRI revealed lesions in the gray matter that correlated to disability - something that has eluded imaging studies for some time."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17468444&dopt=Abstract

http://msviewsandrelatednews.com/blog5/index.php?itemid=475

(Thanks Stu)

Cherie

[AfterMyNap]

Thanks, Cherie. I guess the trick now is to get the intense scan baseline data and continue with the traditional MRIs. I wonder if my ins. will let me do that.

[fahrmar]

Yes, ma'am. I wish I had printed it out, because several months ago I read an abstract from a university study exploring higher Tesla MRI. Normal/standard MRI is 1.5 Tesla. Anyway, this university studied 4, 6 and 8 Tesla. As you pointed out, not only were lesions revealed otherwise undected at 1.5 Tesla, but also grey matter involvement. This kind of upended the conventional belief of MS as a white matter only disorder. There are now three NIH studies on MRI Tesla 3, 5 and 7. Thank God! Because even though the McDonald and Poser have a disclaimer (always read the fine print) that an MRI should not be the final say in diagnosis, far too many neuros relay on MRI as the final word. Mine included, which is why I am neuro shopping. The new plan for diagnosis and treatment commences Tuesday. Woo-hoo! Sure hope my expectations aren't too high! :rolleyes:

[kingrex]

Yes, ma'am. I wish I had printed it out, because several months ago I read an abstract from a university study exploring higher Tesla MRI. Normal/standard MRI is 1.5 Tesla. Anyway, this university studied 4, 6 and 8 Tesla. As you pointed out, not only were lesions revealed otherwise undected at 1.5 Tesla, but also grey matter involvement. This kind of upended the conventional belief of MS as a white matter only disorder. There are now three NIH studies on MRI Tesla 3, 5 and 7. Thank God! Because even though the McDonald and Poser have a disclaimer (always read the fine print) that an MRI should not be the final say in diagnosis, far too many neuros relay on MRI as the final word. Mine included, which is why I am neuro shopping. The new plan for diagnosis and treatment commences Tuesday. Woo-hoo! Sure hope my expectations aren't too high! :rolleyes:


How do you know that the lesions seen in gray matter were MS plaques? Was this determined by working backwards from the symptoms and correlating them with lesions found? That's not entirely scientific...they need to autopsy patients and determine that what was seen in the gray matter were indeed MS plaques. I haven't read the study completely, but what I saw in the abstract mentioned that the low-intensity signal seen in deep gray matter was theorized to be due to the presence of iron deposits. This is not a new concept; in fact, it was reported in late 2003:

http://www.webmd.com/multiple-sclerosis/news/20031022/multiple-sclerosis-tied-to-iron-in-brain


FWIW, it's still just a theory. Many disease processes leave increased iron in the brain.



rex