Robert J. Fox1, Daniel Ontaneda1,
Xiofeng Wang2, Ken Sakaie3, Jian Lin3, Mark
J. Lowe3, Michael D. Phillips3
1Mellen Center for MS, Cleveland
Clinic, Cleveland, OH, United States; 2Quantitative Health
Sciences, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, United States; 3Radiology,
Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, United States
We
used HARDI DTI in a longitudinal study of multiple sclerosis patients to
identify changes in brain tissue prior to the development of acute
inflammation (gadolinium enhancement).
We found significantly decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) up to 10
months prior to the development of gadolinium-enhancing lesions. Changes in FA were driven an increase in
transverse diffusivity, while longitudinal diffusivity remained
unchanged. This study provides
evidence for impaired myelin integrity up to 10 months prior to development
of gadolinium enhancement.
Keywords