Abstract #2171

Periventricular Venous Density in MS Patients Correlates with T2 Lesion Load - a 7 Tesla MRI Study

Paul Mittelstaedt¹, Tim Sinnecker¹, Jan Markus Doerr¹, Caspar F. Pfueller¹, Lutz Harms¹, Thoralf Niendorf^2,3, Friedemann Paul^1,4, Jens Wuerfel^2,5

¹Charit University Medicine, Berlin, Germany; ²Max-Delbrueck-Center for Molecular Medicin, Berlin, Germany; ³Berlin Ultrahigh Field Facility, Berlin, Germany; ⁴NeuroCure Clinical Research Center , Berlin, Germany; ⁵University of Luebeck, Luebeck, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

Ultrahigh field MRI visualizes small blood vessels as well as cerebral white and grey brain matter lesions in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with great anatomical details. In comparison to age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects, MS patients present with a rarified periventricular venous density. Furthermore, the number of detectable periventricular veins inversely correlates with the T2 lesion load, a paraclinical marker of the disease severity. Our results indicate disease related alterations of the cerebral vasculature, but challenge - if not contradict - the hypothesis of an increased intracerebral venous pressure resulting from a chronic cerebrovascular insufficiency in MS a recently suggested cause of MS.