First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and General University Hospital
Department of Neurology and Center of Clinical Neuroscience, First Faculty of Medicine

Author Of 2 Presentations

Imaging Poster Presentation

P0627 - Quantitative T1 changes relate to infratentorial pathology in early multiple sclerosis. (ID 1844)

Abstract

Background

The presence of infratentorial lesions early in the disease has been shown to have prognostic value for future disability in multiple sclerosis (MS). Quantitative imaging metrics such as T1 relaxometry might contribute to understanding the relationship between supratentorial (ST), infratentorial (IT), and spinal cord (SC) pathology.

Objectives

Our aim was to explore the association between ST, IT and SC pathology and microstructural tissue alterations assessed with T1 relaxometry in T2-hyperintense lesions as well as cerebral and cerebellar normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) in patients with recently diagnosed MS with- and without IT lesions.

Methods

Microstructural tissue alterations were assessed in 42 patients (mean age 33.6±8.0 years, median MS duration 0.2 years (0-2.3)) as deviations from normative T1 times, both obtained from the MP2RAGE sequence at 3T (MAGNETOM Skyra, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany). The normative T1 values were voxel-wise modelled via a study-specific atlas based on spatially normalized data from 102 healthy individuals (21-59 years). Relationship between normalized IT volumes (mesencephalon, pons, medulla oblongata, cerebellum), SC volume, ST and IT lesion loads estimated by the Morphobox prototype, Scanview and LemanPV prototype, respectively and the deviations from normative T1 times expressed as z-score-derived metrics (volumes and means of voxels with z-scores above z-score 2 and below z-score 2) in lesions, cerebral and cerebellar NAWM were studied by partial correlations adjusted for age and brain lesion volume.

Results

Patients with IT lesions (n=23, 33.0±8.5 years) had larger lesion load, higher volumes of voxels with positive z-scores (> 2), higher mean of z-scores above 2 in lesions, and larger thalami than patients without IT lesions (n=19, 34.3±7.7 years). The remaining volumes and z-scores derived metrics did not differ between groups. Cerebellar volume correlated negatively with volume of voxels with negative z-scores (< 2) in cerebellar NAWM (partial correlation coefficient r=-.437, p=.005) only in patients with IT lesions. In patients without IT lesions, SC and pons volumes correlated negatively with volume of voxels with positive z-scores corresponding to areas of supratentorial T2 lesions (SC: r=-.669, p=.003, pons: r=-0.606, p=0.01).

Conclusions

Microstructural alterations identified as T1 z-scores relate differently to IT and SC volumes in MS patients with and without IT lesions. In the presence of IT lesions, changes in cerebellar NAWM (T1 shortening relative to healthy controls) are associated with lower cerebellar volume. In the absence of IT lesions, the association of cerebellar NAWM and cerebellar volume is not present. In patients without IT lesions, microstructural alterations in ST lesions (T1 prolongation) that might indicate the extent of tissue damage in lesions, are associated with lower pontine and SC volumes regardless of the T2 lesion load.

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Imaging Poster Presentation

P0645 - Spinal cord pathology in a large cohort of MS patients with different levels of disability and MS phenotypes (ID 865)

Abstract

Background

SC pathology occurs early in the course of MS. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between lesions, diffuse changes and mean upper cervical cord area (MUCCA) in MS patients with different levels of disability in detail.

Objectives

To explore spinal cord (SC) pathology in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with different levels of disability and MS phenotypes.

Methods

638 MS patients with different degrees of disability and 102 healthy controls (HC) underwent MRI on a 3T (MAGNETOM Skyra, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany). The MRI protocol comprised transversal 3D-T2WI for MUCCA, sagittal T2WI-Fat-Sat and PDWI for SC pathology, and 3D-MPRAGE for regional brain volume (BV). MUCCA was measured automatically between the C3 and C4 vertebra (ScanView.cz). Global and regional BVs were estimated by the fully automated MorphoBox prototype (Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany). Diffuse changes, number and location of SC lesions were assessed manually. Patients and HC were matched by sex and age using propensity scores. MUCCA, regional BVs and SC pathology were compared among matched subgroups of: 54 patients with mild disability (EDSS=<1.5), 54 patients with mild-to-moderate disability (EDSS 2-3.5), 54 patients with severe disability (EDSS 4-4.5), 54 patients with very severe disability (EDSS>=5), 18 primary progressive (PP) patients, and 54 controls from the HC group. ANOVA test was used for between-group comparison.

Results

There was a trend of lower MUCCA with higher disability level. Mean MUCCA was 76.5±10.8 mm2 invery severe, 80.1±9.6 mm2 in severe, 85.7±8.0 mm2 in moderate, 85.6±8.5 mm2 in mild disability, and 90±7.7 mm2 in HC groups. There was a significant difference in MUCCA between HC and mild disability group (p<0.001). SC pathology was prominent in 64.1% of the patients with mild disability, compared to 90.4% patients with very severe disability. The percentage of diffuse changes varied greatly between the groups, with prevalence increasing almost four times between patients with mild and very severe disability.

Conclusions

SC pathology is present in all disability MS groups. MUCCA differentiated between patients with mild disability and healthy controls, suggesting that it may be promising for the implementation in diagnostic protocols. The evaluation of diffuse changes can help to predict disability. Low MUCCA together with prominent diffuse changes could help differentiate PP MS from other MS phenotypes.

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