Abstract #1987

The corticospinal tract in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: a preliminary tractography and fixel-based MRI analysis at ultra high-field

Myrte Strik¹, Camille Shanahan¹, Stacey Telianidis ¹, Anneke Van der Walt ^2,3, Rebecca Glarin¹, Roger Ordidge¹, Bradford Moffat¹, Fary Khan³, Andisheh Bastani³, Eduardo Cofré Lizama³, Mary Galea³, Trevor Kilpatrick^1,2, Jon Cleary¹, and Scott Kolbe^1,4

¹Anatomy and Neuroscience, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, ²Neurology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, ³Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, ⁴Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia

Lower limb disability in multiple sclerosis (MS) is likely related to axonal damage in the corticospinal tract (CST), the main motor pathway. This study aimed to compare the degree of CST degeneration to clinical motor disability using high field (7T) diffusion weighted MRI and subsequent analyses methods like tractography and fixel-based analysis. Eleven minimally impaired relapsing-remitting MS patients (1m/10f, 42±12.4yrs) were tested. Results show loss of fiber density (FD) in the subcortical white matter of the CST was associated with increased pyramidal dysfunction (p_uncorrected<0.05). FD could provide a useful marker of disease progression leading to loss of mobility.

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