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Abstract #0305

Establishing a Relationship Between Pain and Spinal Cord Demyelination using Magnetization Transfer Imaging and Thermal Sensory Testing

Nadia Barakat1, Steven Staffa1, Leslie Benson2, Mark P Gorman2, David Zurakowski1, and David Borsook1

1Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States, 2Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States

Myelitis is a demyelinating disorder of the spinal cord . It can occur as an isolated syndrome or in the context of an autoimmune condition such as MS. Pain is a significant problem in myelitis and has a major impact on treatment response and rehabilitation efforts. Magnetization Transfer Imaging has the ability to provide a marker for myelin content. Defining a relationship between pain and demyelination could lead to improved disease outcome. Our results showed significant differences in spinal cord MTR (C1 to T12) and pain (heat/cold stimuli) between patients and controls, and strong correlation between MTR and heat detection thresholds.

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