Sensitivity of the Inhomogeneous Magnetization Transfer Imaging Technique to Spinal Cord Damage in Multiple Sclerosis
Henitsoa Rasoanandrianina, Sarah Demortière, Amira Trabelsi, Jean‐Philippe Ranjeva, Olivier M. Girard, Guillaume Duhamel, Maxime Guye, Jean Pelletier, Bertrand Audoin, Virginie Callot
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The inhomogeneous magnetization transfer technique has demonstrated high specificity for myelin, and has shown sensitivity to multiple sclerosis-related impairment in brain tissue. Our aim was to investigate its sensitivity to spinal cord impairment in MS relative to more established MR imaging techniques (volumetry, magnetization transfer, DTI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: scores. Correlations between MR metrics and clinical scores in patients with MS were evaluated using the Spearman rank correlation. RESULTS: scores, respectively, in normal-appearing WM regions, while weaker and nonsignificant correlations were obtained for DTI metrics. CONCLUSIONS: With inhomogeneous magnetization transfer being highly sensitive to spinal cord damage in MS compared with conventional magnetization transfer and DTI, it could generate great clinical interest for longitudinal follow-up and potential remyelinating clinical trials. In line with other advanced myelin techniques with which it could be compared, it opens perspectives for multicentric investigations.