Quantitative assessment of brain iron by R(2) relaxometry in patients with clinically isolated syndrome and relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis
Increased iron deposition has been implicated in the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis (MS), based on visual analysis of signal reduction on T(2)-weighted images. R(2)* relaxometry allows to assess brain iron accumulation quantitatively. To investigate regional brain iron deposition in patients...
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Published in | Multiple sclerosis Vol. 15; no. 9; pp. 1048 - 1054 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
01.09.2009
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Increased iron deposition has been implicated in the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis (MS), based on visual analysis of signal reduction on T(2)-weighted images. R(2)* relaxometry allows to assess brain iron accumulation quantitatively.
To investigate regional brain iron deposition in patients with a clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) or relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) and its associations with demographical, clinical, and conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) parameters.
We studied 69 patients (CIS, n = 32; RRMS, n = 37) with 3T MRI and analyzed regional R(2)* relaxation rates and their correlations with age, disease duration, disability, T(2) lesion load, and normalized brain volumes.
Basal ganglia R(2)* relaxation rates increased in parallel with age (r = 0.3-0.6; P < 0.01) and were significantly higher in RRMS than in CIS (P < 0.05). Using multivariate linear regression analysis, the rate of putaminal iron deposition was independently predicted by the patients' age, disease duration, and gray matter atrophy.
Quantitative assessment by R(2)* relaxometry suggests increased iron deposition in the basal ganglia of MS patients, which is associated with disease duration and brain atrophy. This technique together with long-term follow-up thus appears suited to clarify whether regional iron accumulation contributes to MS morbidity or merely reflects an epiphenomenon. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1352-4585 |
DOI: | 10.1177/1352458509106609 |