Diminished visibility of cerebral venous vasculature in multiple sclerosis by susceptibility-weighted imaging at 3.0 Tesla.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system characterized by widespread demyelination, axonal loss and gliosis, and neurodegeneration; susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI), through the use of phase information to enhance local susceptibility or T2* contrast, is a relatively new and simple MRI application that can directly image cerebral veins by exploiting venous blood oxygenation. Here, we use high-field SWI at 3.0 Tesla to image 15 patients with clinically definite relapsing-remitting MS and to assess cerebral venous oxygen level changes. We demonstrate significantly reduced visibility of periventricular white matter venous vasculature in patients as compared to control subjects, supporting the concept of a widespread hypometabolic MS disease process. SWI may afford a noninvasive and relatively simple method to assess venous oxygen saturation so as to closely monitor disease severity, progression, and response to therapy.
Ge
Yulin
Y
Department of Radiology/Center for Biomedical Imaging, NYU School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA. yulin.ge@nyumc.org
Zohrabian
Vahe M
VM
Osa
Etin-Osa
EO
Xu
Jian
J
Jaggi
Hina
H
Herbert
Joseph
J
Haacke
E Mark
EM
Grossman
Robert I
RI
D000328:Adult; D002550:Cerebral Veins / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000473:pathology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity