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Abstract #2465

Diffusion & Magnetization Transfer Imaging Detects Spinal Cord Lesions in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Pierre-Francois Pradat1, Julien Cohen-Adad2,3, Mohamed Mounir Elmendili2, Stephane Lehericy4, Sophie Blancho5, Vincent Meininger6, Serge Rossignol7, Habib Benali2

1Dpartement des Maladies du Systme Nerveux, Hpital de la Piti-Salptrire, Paris, France; 2UMR-678, INSERM-UPMC, Piti-Salptrire Hospital, Paris, France; 3A.A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, United States; 4Centre for Neuroimaging Research (CENIR), CRICM,INSERM U975, CNRS UMR 7225, , Piti-Salptrire Hospital, Paris; 5Institut pour la Recherche sur la Moelle Epinire et l'Encphale, France; 6Dpartement des Maladies du Systme Nerveux, Piti-Salptrire Hospital, France; 7GRSNC, Faculty of Medicine, Universit de Montral, Montreal, Canada


Characterizing in vivo spinal lesions in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is crucial to explore the anatomic structures affected by the disease more precisely. In this study we combined for the first time DW, MT imaging and atrophy measurements to evaluate the cervical spinal cord of ALS patients. In the ventro-lateral aspect of the cervical cord, significant differences were detected in FA, radial diffusivity and MTR. Spinal atrophy was correlated with some clinical measures. From a clinical perspective, it could provide new non-invasive tools for early diagnostic, measuring disease progression in ALS.