Abstract #0416

Outer spinal cord rim visualization using magnetization-prepared 3D T1w TFE at 3T: Application to multiple sclerosis.

Marios C Yiannakas¹, Torben Schneider², Matthew Clemence², James Fairney³, Ferran Prados^1,4, Hugh Kearney¹, Sebastien Ourselin⁴, David H Miller^1,5, and Claudia AM Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott^1,6,7

¹UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square MS Centre, University College London, London, United Kingdom, ²Philips Healthcare, Guildford, United Kingdom, ³Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom, ⁴Translational Imaging Group, CMIC, Dep. of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom, ⁵UCL-UCLH NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, London, United Kingdom, ⁶Department of Brain and Behavioural Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, ⁷Brain MRI 3T Mondino Research Center, C. Mondino National Neurological Institute, Pavia, Italy

Neuropathological studies in multiple sclerosis (MS) have suggested that meningeal inflammation in the brain and spinal cord (SC) may be associated with disease progression. However, the use of structural imaging protocols to depict meningeal tissues has not been reported. Herein, we investigate the feasibility of obtaining sufficiently high image contrast to resolve the SC rim that we speculate corresponds to the SC pia mater (SCPM) using the magnetization-prepared 3D T1w TFE sequence. Preliminary results show that it is possible to resolve SCPM, and that significant differences in signal intensity values within SCPM exist between healthy controls and people with MS.

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