Marios C. Yiannakas1, Hugh Kearney1, Olga Ciccarelli2, David H. Miller1, Claudia A.M Wheeler-Kingshott1
1Neuroinflammation, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom; 2Brain Repair and Rehabilitation, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom
This study proposes a pipeline from acquisition to data analysis to characterise for the first time multiple sclerosis lesions in the cervical cord from MR images acquired with different contrasts. Proton density (PDw) and T1-weighted (T1w) images are acquired. Lesions are segmented using established methodologies. Magnetisation transfer ratio (MTR) measurements of the lesions, normal appearing white-matter (NAWM) and grey-matter (NAGM) are obtained and compared with healthy controls. The mean MTR of PDw lesions is very similar to the T1w lesions but more lesional tissue is visible on the PDw images than T1w.