Individual Voxel Based Analysis of Brain Magnetization Transfer Maps Evidences High Variability of Grey Matter Injury in Patients at the First Stage of Multiple Sclerosis

Lorena Jure¹, Wafaa Zaaraoui¹, Celia Rousseau¹, Franoise Reuter¹, Audrey Rico¹, Irina Malikova¹, Sylviane Confort-Gouny¹, Patrick J. Cozzone¹, Jean Pelletier¹, Bertrand Audoin¹, Jean-Philippe Ranjeva¹

Various MR studies, based on group comparison have demonstrated a common pattern of grey matter (GM) injury in patients since the early stage of multiple sclerosis (MS). However, little is know about the potential variability of this early GM involvement which may determine the high variability of the functional prognosis. We propose an optimized method to obtain from statistical mapping analyses applied on MTR data, the GM MTR abnormalities of subjects at the individual level. Feasibility is demonstrated in early MS patients showing variable individual patterns of GM injury that could explain heterogeneity of clinical progression for this disease.