Abstract #1865

Pathological differentiation of multiple sclerosis lesions based on R2* at 3T: The influence of iron and myelin

Christoph Birkl^1,2, Vanessa Wiggermann^1,3,4, Verena Endmayr⁵, Enedino Hernandez-Torres^1,4, Gregor Kasprian⁶, Romana Hoeftberger⁷, Stefan Ropele², Simon Hametner^5,8, and Alexander Rauscher^1,3,4,9

¹UBC MRI Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, ²Department of Neurology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria, ³Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, ⁴Department of Pediatrics (Devision of Neurology), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, ⁵Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, ⁶Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, ⁷Institute of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, ⁸Institute of Neuropahtology, University Medical Center Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany, ⁹Child and Family Research Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Magnetic-susceptibility sensitive MRI as measure for tissue damage in multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions has been controversial, since the relationship between the MR signal and the underlying pathology is not fully understood. Here we assessed R₂* of different white matter MS lesion types and normal appearing white matter (NAWM) in relation to the underlying iron and myelin densities. We observed lower R₂* in all MS lesion types compared to NAWM, driven by lower iron and myelin densities. Shadow plaques showed significant higher R₂* values than other MS lesions, in line with the hypothesis of remyelination and supported by myelin histology.

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