title: Grey matter abnormalities in multiple sclerosis: proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging.
abstract: Pathologically defined abnormalities in the cortical gray matter (GM) are well described in multiple sclerosis (MS) but are infrequently seen by conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We systematically evaluated 52 relapsing-remitting MS patients and 20 normal volunteers with high resolution MRI and short echo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI). Individual tissue contributions to the spectroscopic voxels were estimated based on MRI that incorporated both CSF suppression and magnetization transfer, or double inversion images in which both CSF and GM were suppressed. Strong resonances in the 0.8 to 1.5 p.p.m. spectral region were observed in 13 MS patients. Image segmentation based on the MRI characteristics of tissues contributing to the spectroscopic voxels showed that these additional peaks originated mainly from GM. The presence of these additional peaks suggests that the normal appearance GM on MRI, is biochemically abnormal in a substantial proportion of relapsing-remitting MS patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Texas at Houston Medical School, 77030, USA.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Narayana
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Wolinsky
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology*