title: Detecting cortical lesions in multiple sclerosis at 7 T using white matter signal attenuation.
abstract: Cortical lesions have recently been a focus of multiple sclerosis (MS) MR research. In this study, we present a white matter signal attenuating sequence optimized for cortical lesion detection at 7 T. The feasibility of white matter attenuation (WHAT) for cortical lesion detection was determined by scanning eight patients (four relapsing/remitting MS, four secondary progressive MS) at 7 T. WHAT showed excellent gray matter-white matter contrast, and cortical lesions were hyperintense to the surrounding cortical gray matter, The sequence was then optimized for cortical lesion detection by determining the set of sequence parameters that produced the best gray matter-cortical lesion contrast in a 10-min scan. Despite the B1 inhomogeneities common at ultra-high field strengths, WHAT with an adiabatic inversion pulse showed good cortical lesion detection and would be a valuable component of clinical MS imaging protocols.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Wright Center of Innovation, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Katharine T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Bluestein
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pitt
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sammet
authors.forename: Cherian Renil
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Zachariah
authors.forename: Usha
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Nagaraj
authors.forename: Michael V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Knopp
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schmalbrock
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000473:pathology*; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D055815:Young Adult