We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress
Sign In
Advertise with Us
GLOBETECH PUBLISHING LLC

Download Mobile App




MRI Reveals Spinal Atrophy Tied to MS Progression

By MedImaging International staff writers
Posted on 17 May 2017
Print article
Image: Inversion recovery images illustrating gray matter atrophy in MS (Photo courtesy of Regina Schlaeger).
Image: Inversion recovery images illustrating gray matter atrophy in MS (Photo courtesy of Regina Schlaeger).
A new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study among early stage multiple sclerosis (MS) patients reveals detectable cord gray matter atrophy in both the cervical and thoracic cord.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and University Hospital Basel enrolled 64 patients with early MS and 53 controls in an observational study. The MS patients (mean age 36.9, 26 women) had a mean duration from first symptom onset of 1.2 years, and a median expanded disability status scale (EDSS) score of 2. Among the healthy controls, the mean age was 37.4 and 38 were women.

MRI scans of the C2/C3 cervical spine among the early MS patients revealed a 14% reduction in gray matter area among patients diagnosed with progressive MS, compared with a 3% reduction in gray matter area among patients diagnosed with relapsing MS; the 3% decrease in gray mater area in the cervical spine was also significantly lower than in controls. Total spinal cord area matter was reduced by 10% among patients with progressive disease, but actually increased by a non-significant 2% from controls.

There was also a significant difference in white matter, reduced 9% in those with progressive disease compared with an increase of 3% among patients diagnosed with relapsing MS. The researchers did not find significant differences in the loss of gray matter in the spinal cord at the T9/T10 location among patients with or without spinal cord lesions, but there was a significant difference in spinal cord white matter. In addition, cervical and thoracic gray matter areas were not correlated with the number of spinal cord T2-lesions. The study was presented at the annual American Academy of Neurology meeting, held during April 2017 in Boston (MA, USA).

“Compared to later stages, much of the Expanded Disability Status Score variance is explained by spinal cord lesions at the early stages of disease,” said lead author and study presenter Regina Schlaeger, MD, PhD, of University Hospital Basel. “Spinal cord gray matter atrophy is detectable in vivo already at the earliest stages of multiple sclerosis, affecting both the cervical and lower thoracic cord. In patients without prior spinal cord relapses, cervical cord gray matter area is inversely associated with disability.”

“The presence of lesions at the cervical and lower thoracic spine in the early disease state may be more important in determining a patient's disability, whereas later the amount of gray matter loss may be more relevant in determining a patient's disability,” commented discussant Daniel Reich, MD, PhD, of the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (Bethesda, MD, USA). “All told, I think this is more evidence that early aggressive treatment that can stop lesions from forming, and protect myelin from inflammatory damage, and repair the myelin within existing lesions really will help.”

Historically in neuroscience, the vast majority of research effort has been invested in understanding and studying gray matter and neurons, while white matter has received relatively little attention, largely due to the lack of effective research tools to study white matter, even though it comprises about half the volume of the brain.

Gold Member
Solid State Kv/Dose Multi-Sensor
AGMS-DM+
New
Silver Member
Mobile X-Ray Barrier
Lead Acrylic Mobile X-Ray Barriers
New
Ultrasound System
Acclarix AX9
Radiology Software
MSK Radiology

Print article

Channels

Ultrasound

view channel
Image: Structure of the proposed transparent ultrasound transducer and its optical transmittance (Photo courtesy of POSTECH)

Ultrasensitive Broadband Transparent Ultrasound Transducer Enhances Medical Diagnosis

The ultrasound-photoacoustic dual-modal imaging system combines molecular imaging contrast with ultrasound imaging. It can display molecular and structural details inside the body in real time without... Read more

Nuclear Medicine

view channel
Image: PET/CT of a 60-year-old male patient with clinical suspicion of lung cancer (Photo courtesy of EJNMMI Physics)

Early 30-Minute Dynamic FDG-PET Acquisition Could Halve Lung Scan Times

F-18 FDG-PET scans are a way to look inside the body using a special dye, and these scans can be either static or dynamic. Static scans happen 60 minutes after the dye is administered into the body, showing... Read more

Imaging IT

view channel
Image: The new Medical Imaging Suite makes healthcare imaging data more accessible, interoperable and useful (Photo courtesy of Google Cloud)

New Google Cloud Medical Imaging Suite Makes Imaging Healthcare Data More Accessible

Medical imaging is a critical tool used to diagnose patients, and there are billions of medical images scanned globally each year. Imaging data accounts for about 90% of all healthcare data1 and, until... Read more

Industry News

view channel
Image: The acquisition will expand IBA’s medical imaging quality assurance offering (Photo courtesy of Radcal)

IBA Acquires Radcal to Expand Medical Imaging Quality Assurance Offering

Ion Beam Applications S.A. (IBA, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium), the global leader in particle accelerator technology and a world-leading provider of dosimetry and quality assurance (QA) solutions, has entered... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2024 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.