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Abstract #1578

Does quantitative ultra-high-field magnetic resonance imaging have added value in the characterization of Friedreich’s ataxia?

Sina Straub1, Stephanie Mangesius2,3, Julian Emmerich1,4, Elisabetta Indelicato5, Wolfgang Nachbauer5, Katja S. Degenhardt1,4, Mark E. Ladd1,4,6, Sylvia Boesch5, and Elke R. Gizewski2
1Medical Physics in Radiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany, 2Department of Neuroradiology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria, 3Neuroimaging Core Facility, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria, 4Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany, 5Department of Neurology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria, 6Faculty of Medicine, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany

Friedreich’s ataxia is a rare disease involving degenerative processes within white matter fiber tracts, spinal nerves, and the cerebellum such as the atrophy of the dentate nuclei. A correlation of patients’ clinical status and white matter atrophy has been shown in MR volumetry studies. This ultra-high-field study assesses the degeneration of fiber tracts throughout the brainstem as well as of the dentate nuclei, the red nuclei, and the substantia nigra in Friedreich’s ataxia with quantitative MR parameters – susceptibility, diffusion anisotropy, and R2 and R1 relaxometry. Statistically significant differences between patients and controls and between disease characteristics were found.

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