QUANTITATIVE VOLUMETRIC MAGNETIZATION-TRANSFER ANALYSIS IN MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS - ESTIMATION OF MACROSCOPIC AND MICROSCOPIC DISEASE BURDEN

Magnetization transfer imaging (MTI) has been shown to be sensitive to both macroscopic acid microscopic disease in multiple sclerosis (MS). In this study three-dimensional MTI was used to estimate the global b urden of disease in large volumes of brain tissue. MTI was performed i n 15 MS patients and 11 normal controls. In seven MS patients MTI was performed on two different occasions. MTI data were displayed as magne tization transfer ratio (MTR) histograms and analyzed. The peak height of the histograms, presumably reflecting the residual amount of norma l brain tissue, was lower in MS patients as compared with normal contr ols (P < 0.001), and was found to correlate with the duration of disea se (P < 0.05). A decrease of the MTR histogram peak height was observe d in the course of the disease (P < 0.01). These findings suggest that in MS, volumetric MTI provides quantitative information reflecting th e global burden of disease.