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Abstract #1137

In-Vivo Quantitative Measure of Black Hole Severity in Multiple Sclerosis with Gradient Echo Plural Contrast Imaging

Pascal Sati1, Anne H. Cross2, Dmitriy A. Yablonskiy3

1Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medecine, St Louis, MO, USA; 2Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA; 3Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA


Among the different types of MS brain lesions observed by MRI, black holes are associated with most significant tissue destruction. Black holes are usually detected as hypointense areas compared to the normal appearing white matter on T1-weighted spin-echo images. Unfortunately, these images, being only qualitative, provide limited information about lesion severity. In this abstract, we propose a new approach using GEPCI for a quantitative evaluation of black hole severity which may assist in predicting their development over time. This quantitative approach can be used in a clinical setting as it requires less than 10 min of imaging.