Grey Matter Perfusion Is Inversely Correlated to T2 Lesion Load in MS Patients - A 3D GRASE Arterial Spin Labeling Study at 1.5T

Michael Amann¹, Jochen Gunther Hirsch¹, Lutz Achtnichts², Yvonne Naegelin², Johannes Gregori³, Martin Schaellebaum², Katrin Weier², Alain Thni, Ernst Wilhelm Radue, Matthias Gnther³, Ludwig Kappos², Achim Gass¹

We investigated the influence of different clinical and MRI factors onto grey matter (GM) perfusion in MS patients (123 RRMS, 42 SPMS, 7 PPMS, and 5 CIS). To assess cerebral blood flow (CBF), we applied a pulsed arterial spin labeling technique combined with single-shot 3D-GRASE readout. The mean GM-CBF in each patient was calculated for 10 supratentorial slices. Multiple linear regression models were calculated to investigate the relationship between different factor sets and mean GM-CBF. Post-hoc Spearman rank correlation revealed significant correlation of GM-CBF with T2 lesion load (p=2*10^-6) and with age (p=0.002), but neither with GM-atrophy nor disease onset.