Rebecca S. Samson1,
Manuel Jorge Cardoso2, 3, Nils Muhlert4,
Varun Sethi4, Claudia Angela M. Wheeler-Kingshott4,
Maria A. Ron4, Sebastian Ourselin2, 3, David
H. Miller4, Declan T. Chard4
1NMR
Research Unit, Queen Square MS Centre, Department of Neuroinflammation, UCL
Institute of Neurology, London, England, United Kingdom; 2Centre
for Medical Image Computing, UCL Department of Computer Sciences, London,
United Kingdom; 3Dementia Research Centre, UCL Institute of
Neurology, London, United Kingdom; 4NMR Research Unit, Queen
Square MS Centre, Department of Neuroinflammation, UCL Institute of
Neurology, London, United Kingdom
Histopathology has demonstrated extensive cortical demyelination in multiple sclerosis (MS), often in a subpial location. We subdivided the cortex into inner and outer bands, and investigated the relationship between inner and outer cortical abnormality (as measured by the magnetisation transfer ratio (MTR)) and clinical course in a large cohort of MS patients. Outer was lower than inner MTR in people with MS and controls, as expected due to the lower myelin content in the outer cortex. Outer cortical MTR reductions (consistent with subpial demyelination) were observed in relapse-onset MS and were most marked in people with secondary progressive MS.
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