Assessment of spinal cord damage in MS using MRI

Spinal cord imaging is important in the evaluation of patients with MS. The re are several techniques available which provide satisfactory images of le sions in the spinal cord. Conventional measures used in the assessment of d amage to the spinal cord include quantification of: (1) high intensity on T 2 weighted images; (2) spinal cord enhancement; and (3) spinal cord atrophy . Although not presently implemented, newer methods including magnetization transfer, diffusion, and proton spectroscopy offer the potential for mon s pecific classification of spinal cord MS. Assessment of spinal cord damage using MR still remains behind the development of brain methodology and repr esents both a challenge and an opportunity. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.