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Abstract #4083

Sensitive Detection of Myelination Change in Multiple Sclerosis by McDESPOT

Jason Su1, Hagen H. Kitzler2, Michael Zeineh1, Cyndi Harper-Little3, Andy Leung4, Marcelo Kremenchutzky5, Sean C. Deoni6, Brian Keith Rutt1

1Department of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States; 2Department of Neuroradiology, Technische Universitaet Dresden, Dresden, Germany; 3Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; 4Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; 5Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; 6Brown University, Providence, RI, United States


Using the whole-brain, myelin-selective MR method, multi-component Driven Equilibrium Single Pulse Observation of T1 and T2 (mcDESPOT), we examined the development of disease in a cohort of patients and controls at baseline and 1 year; the first longitudinal application of this new MR methodology. Derived quantitative measures were shown to be highly sensitive to changes in the health of the brain, having statistically significant changes in MS patients compared to normals, while the coarse EDSS clinical disability score was unable to detect a change. These measures are promising new markers for assessing the course of disease.