Don Charles Bigler1, Claire Flaherty-Craig2,
Yaman Aksu3, Byeong-Yeul Lee4, Kevin R. Scott2,
Helen E. Stephens2, Jeffrey J. Vesek5, Jianli Wang5,
Michele L. Shaffer6, Paul J. Eslinger2,5, Zachary
Simmons2, Qing X. Yang5,7
1Psychiatry, Penn State Hershey Medical
Center, Hershey, PA, United States; 2Neurology, Penn State Hershey
Medical Center, Hershey, PA, United States; 3Electrical
Engineering, Penn State University, State College, PA, United States; 4Bioengineering,
Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, United States; 5Radiology,
Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, United States; 6Public
Health Sciences, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, United
States; 7Neurosurgery, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Hershey,
PA, United States
The
objectives of this study were to identify regions of T2 change in ALS
cross-sectionally using VBR and determine the relationship of T2 with time,
disease duration, and disease severity longitudinally. T1-weighted and multi spin-echo images were
acquired from 12 control and 12 ALS at baseline, 7 at 6 months, and 6 at 12
months. After post-processing clusters
of significant T2 increase cross-sectionally were found in frontal and
temporal areas. Longitudinally,
increased T2 was associated with disease duration mainly in frontal
areas. Increased T2 in ALS is likely
due to atrophy in cortical areas and acute inflammation in subcortical
regions.