CORRELATION OF VOLUMETRIC MAGNETIZATION-TRANSFER IMAGING WITH CLINICAL-DATA IN MS

We examined the relations between quantitative volumetric estimates of cerebral lesion load based on magnetization transfer imaging (MTI), c linical data, and measures of neuropsychological function in 44 patien ts with clinically diagnosed MS. In this population we assessed the co rrelation between several volumetric MTI measures, measures of neurolo gic function (Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale and Ambulation Index), and disease duration using Spearman's correlation coefficient. Patients were classified on the basis of neuropsychological test perf ormance as severely impaired, moderately impaired, and normal. We asse ssed differences between these groups with respect to MTI results usin g the Kruskal-Wallis test. MTI measures corrected for brain volume wer e found to correlate with disease duration (p < 0.01) and showed sugge stive correlations with measures of neurologic impairment (p < 0.05). Individual neuropsychological tests correlated with MTI measures corre cted and not corrected for brain volume (p < 0.001). An MTI measure no t corrected for brain volume differed (p < 0.05) between severely impa ired, moderately impaired, and normal patients. These preliminary resu lts suggest that volumetric MTI analysis provides new measures that re flect more accurately the global lesion load in the brain of MS patien ts, and they may serve as a method to study the natural course of the disease and as an outcome measure to evaluate the effect of drugs.