Abstract #4399

From medulla to lower cervical levels, a multi-parametric quantitative MR investigation dedicated to the diffuse alterations of the spinal cord at 7T: first insights into Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Aurélien Massire^1,2,3, Henitsoa Rasoanandrianina^1,2,3, Thorsten Feiweier ⁴, Manuel Taso^1,2,3, Aude-Marie Grapperon⁵, Shahram Attarian⁵, Maxime Guye^1,2, Jean-Philippe Ranjeva^1,2,3, Annie Verschueren⁵, and Virginie Callot^1,2,3

¹Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, CRMBM UMR 7339, Marseille, France, Marseille, France, ²AP-HM, Hôpital de la Timone, Pôle d’imagerie médicale, CEMEREM, Marseille, France, Marseille, France, ³iLab-Spine - Laboratoire international associé - Imagerie et Biomécanique du rachis, France/Canada, Marseille, France, ⁴Siemens Healthcare GmbH, Erlangen, Germany, ⁵Service de Neurologie et Maladies neuromusculaires, Hôpital de La Timone, AP-HM, Marseille, France

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) may benefit from unique contrasts and high-spatial resolutions provided by ultra-high field brain MRI. This also stands for spinal cord; nevertheless spinal cord imaging at 7T has lagged considerably behind brain investigations until recently. In this work, we propose a multi-parametric quantitative MR imaging protocol (T₁, T₂*, DTI, CSA), in an acquisition time compatible with clinical research (50min), to comprehensively investigate spinal cord diffuse alterations in neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS. With imaging along the whole cervical cord and medulla, theses multi-parametric acquisitions have the potential to provide new insights for the study of ALS.

This abstract and the presentation materials are available to members only; a login is required.

Join Here