Wei Bian1,2, Kristin
Harter3, Kathryn Hammond Rosenbluth4, Duan Xu2,
Douglas A. C. Kelley2, Daniel Vigneron2, Sarah J.
Nelson2,5, Daniel Pelletier6
1Joint Graduate
Program in BioEngineering at UCSF & UCB, University of California San
Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; 2Department of Radiology &
Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco,
CA, USA; 3School of Pharmacy, University of California San
Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; 4Department of Neurological
Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; 5Department
of BioEngineeing & Therapeutic Sciences, Unviersity of California San
Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; 6Department of Neurology,
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
MRI at 7 Tesla can produce high-resolution phase images of MS lesions that quantify the local field shifts sensitive to iron. A subset of MS lesions visible with phase imaging shows a distinct peripheral ring. The purpose of this serial in vivo 7T study was to follow the evolution of MS lesions showing a phase contrast ring for up to 2.5 years. Our results support the concept that once they have been formed, the peripheral rings in MS white lesions remain stable with time. The biological source of this phase contrast signal remains to be elucidated.