Improving the Detection of Myelin Integrity in Multiple Sclerosis Using Selective Inversion Recovery for MRI With Quantitative Magnetization Transfer.

Background: Selective inversion recovery quantitative magnetization transfer (SIR-qMT)-derived macromolecular to free water pool size ratio (PSR) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)-derived radial diffusivity (RD) are potential metrics for assessing myelin integrity in multiple sclerosis (MS). However, establishing their accuracy in identifying tissue injury is essential for clinical translation.

Purpose: To compare the accuracy and Cohen's effect size (ES) of PSR and RD in detecting and quantifying tissue injury in early MS.

Determinants of long-term paramagnetic rim lesion evolution in people with multiple sclerosis.

Objective: Baseline paramagnetic rim lesion (PRL) load predicts disease progression in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS). Understanding how PRLs relate to other known MS-related factors, and the practical utility of PRLs in clinical trials, is crucial for informing clinical decision-making and guiding development of novel disease-modifying treatments (DMTs).

Methods: This study included 152 pwMS enrolled in a larger prospective, longitudinal cohort study who had 3T MRI scans and clinical assessments at baseline and 5- or 10-year follow-ups.

Chronic active lesions preferentially localize in watershed territories in multiple sclerosis.

Objective: Paramagnetic rim lesions (PRLs) are a biomarker of chronic active lesions (CALs), and an important driver of neurological disability in multiple sclerosis (MS). The reason subtending some acute lesions evolvement into CALs is not known. Here we ask whether a relatively lower oxygen content is linked to CALs.

The use of 7T MRI in multiple sclerosis: review and consensus statement from the North American Imaging in Multiple Sclerosis Cooperative.

The use of ultra-high-field 7-Tesla (7T) MRI in multiple sclerosis (MS) research has grown significantly over the past two decades. With recent regulatory approvals of 7T scanners for clinical use in 2017 and 2020, the use of this technology for routine care is poised to continue to increase in the coming years. In this context, the North American Imaging in MS Cooperative (NAIMS) convened a workshop in February 2023 to review the previous and current use of 7T technology for MS research and potential future research and clinical applications.

Watershed regions are more susceptible to tissue microstructural injury in multiple sclerosis.

Histopathologic studies report higher concentrations of multiple sclerosis white matter lesions in watershed areas of the brain, suggesting that areas with relatively lower oxygen levels may be more vulnerable to disease. However, it is unknown at what point in the disease course lesion predilection for watershed territories begins. Accordingly, we studied a cohort of people with newly diagnosed disease and asked whether (1) white matter lesions disproportionally localize to watershed-regions and (2) the degree of microstructural injury in watershed-lesions is more severe.