Serial gadolinium-DTPA of spinal cord MRI in multiple sclerosis: triple vs. single dose

We compared the sensitivity of single and triple dose Gd-DTPA magnetic reso nance imaging (MRI) in detecting enhancing lesions in the spinal cord (SC) from 15 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The patients were examined m onthly on four occasions. We detected two enhancing lesions in two of 15 (1 3%) patients when a single dose of Gd-DTPA was used. No additional lesions were detected when a triple dose of Gd-DTPA was used. These results 1) conf irm that enhanced spinal cord imaging does not significantly increase the d etection of active lesions in MS, 2) they do not support the general applic ation of triple dose Gb-DTPA when examining the SC but 3) suggest that furt her studies taking into account SC symptoms are necessary. (C) 2000 Elsevie r Science Inc. All rights reserved.