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Abstract #0524

Does myelin content heterogeneity in the spinal cord reflect disability in multiple sclerosis?

Lisa Eunyoung Lee1, Adam Dvorak2, Hanwen Liu2,3, Shawna Abel1, Poljanka Johnson1, Irene M. Vavasour4, Cornelia Laule2,3,4,5, Roger Tam4,6, David K.B. Li1,4, Jillian Chan1, Robert Carruthers1, Anthony Traboulsee1, and Shannon H. Kolind1,2,3,4

1Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 3International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), Vancouver, BC, Canada, 4Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 5Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 6Biomedical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The spinal cord is inherently more difficult to image than brain resulting in fewer MRI studies in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. We used GRASE-derived myelin water fraction (MWF) mean (myelin content) and standard deviation (SD; myelin content heterogeneity) to better understand MS cervical spinal cord pathology compared to healthy controls. We found significant differences in cervical spinal cord MWF SD between progressive MS, relapsing-remitting MS and healthy controls. Further, MWF SD was correlated with disability measures in progressive MS. Our findings suggest that MWF SD as a measure of myelin abnormality in cervical cord relates to disability in MS.

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