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Abstract #1403

Cervical cord myelin abnormality is associated with clinical disability in multiple sclerosis

Irene Margaret Vavasour1,2, Lisa Eunyoung Lee3, Adam V Dvorak2,4, Shawna Abel3, Poljanka Johnson3, Stephen Ristow3, Cornelia Laule1,2,4,5, Roger Tam1,6, David KB Li1,3, Nathalie Ackermans3, Alice Schabas3, Jillian Chan3, Ana-Luiza Sayao3, Virginia Devonshire3, Robert Carruthers3, Anthony Traboulsee3, and Shannon H Kolind1,2,3,4
1Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 3Medicine (Neurology), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 4Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 5Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 6School of Biomedical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Damage to the spinal cord is common in multiple sclerosis (MS) and is an important contributor to physical disability. While spinal cord cross sectional area (CSA) is correlated with disability, CSA is a non-specific measure of tissue damage. The addition of cervical cord myelin water imaging, which measures myelin-related abnormalities, to cord area resulted in better correlations with MS clinical disability than cord CSA alone. In particular, myelin abnormality + CSA was best correlated with 9-hole peg test which requires more fine motor skills and therefore could be strongly influenced by damage to white matter.

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