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Abstract #3373

Differentiating Multiple Sclerosis and Neuromyelitis Optica using Myelin Water Imaging and Paired Pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Praveena Manogaran 1 , Irene Vavasour 2 , Michael Borich 3 , Shannon Heather Kolind 1 , William Donald Regan 4 , Alex MacKay 2,5 , Lara Boyd 3 , David K. B. Li 2 , and Anthony Traboulsee 1

1 Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 2 Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 3 Physical Therapy, Brain Behaviour Lab, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 4 Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 5 Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

This preliminary study aimed to characterize differences in cortical excitability and myelin status of descending motor output pathways and evaluate the relationships between these measures in MS, NMO and controls. Structural changes were found in the descending motor output pathway white matter in NMO and cortical excitability changes in MS that are specific to intracortical inhibitory pathways in comparison to one another and also compared to healthy controls. However, these metrics are not related to one another. These results suggest that there are both neurophysiological and neuroanatomical changes that may potentially offer novel biomarkers to distinguish MS from NMO.

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