Jr. Petrella et al., MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS LESIONS - RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MR ENHANCEMENT PATTERN AND MAGNETIZATION-TRANSFER EFFECT, American journal of neuroradiology, 17(6), 1996, pp. 1041-1049
Citations number
16
Categorie Soggetti
Clinical Neurology","Radiology,Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between the enhancement patte
rn of a multiple sclerosis lesion and its magnetization transfer effec
t. METHODS: Fifty-four lesions were chosen from 29 patients with multi
ple sclerosis on the basis of enhancement pattern on contrast-enhanced
T1-weighted MR images. They included 14 homogeneously enhancing lesio
ns, 26 nonenhancing lesions, and 14 ring-enhancing lesions. Magnetizat
ion transfer ratios of the homogeneously enhancing lesions, nonenhanci
ng lesions, and central portion of the ring-enhancing lesions were mea
sured. Means were calculated and compared. RESULTS: The magnetization
transfer ratios for homogeneously enhancing lesions were higher (mean,
32.2%; SD, 3.4%) than those for nonenhancing lesions (mean, 29.4; SD,
4.3%) and for the central portion of ring-enhancing lesions (mean, 24
.5%; SD, 4.0%). Significant differences were found between the ring-en
hancing lesions and the homogeneously enhancing lesions and between th
e ring-enhancing lesions and the nonenhancing lesions. CONCLUSION: We
found a relationship between decreased magnetization transfer ratios a
nd those enhancement patterns in which myelin is known to be decreased
histopathologically, Thus, use of the magnetization transfer techniqu
e may increase the specificity of MR imaging in assessing the extent o
f residual myelination in multiple sclerosis lesions.