Sodium MRI in Multiple Sclerosis is Compatible with Intracellular Sodium Accumulation and Inflammation-Induced Hyper-Cellularity of Acute Brain Lesions.

The cascade of inflammatory pathogenetic mechanisms in multiple sclerosis (MS) has no specific conventional MRI correlates. Clinicians therefore stipulate improved imaging specificity to define the pathological substrates of MS in vivo including mapping of intracellular sodium accumulation. Based upon preclinical findings and results of previous sodium MRI studies in MS patients we hypothesized that the fluid-attenuated sodium signal differs between acute and chronic lesions.