A longitudinal study comparing the sensitivity of CSE and rare sequences in detecting new multiple sclerosis lesions

In this longitudinal study, we evaluated the sensitivities of dual-echo, co nventional spin-echo (CSE), and rapid-acquisition relaxation-enhanced (RARE ) scans for detecting the appearance of new lesions in multiple sclerosis ( MS). Dual echo, CSE, and RARE scans were obtained on four occasions each se parated by 28 days from five patients with relapsing-remitting MS using a 1 .5-Tesla machine. A total of 44 nem lesions mere detected by the two sequen ces, Thirty-five lesions mere seen on both sequences, three only on CSE and six only on FSE. This study indicates that CSE may be substituted by RARE when monitoring short-term disease activity in MS. (C) 1999 Elsevier Scienc e Inc.