Original Research

Characterizing iron deposition in multiple sclerosis lesions using susceptibility weighted imaging

  1. E. Mark Haacke PhD1,2,3,*,
  2. Malek Makki PhD1,
  3. Yulin Ge MD4,
  4. Megha Maheshwari MS2,
  5. Vivek Sehgal MD1,
  6. Jiani Hu PhD1,
  7. Madeswaran Selvan MS2,
  8. Zhen Wu MD3,
  9. Zahid Latif RT1,
  10. Yang Xuan PhD1,
  11. Omar Khan MD5,
  12. James Garbern MD, PhD5,
  13. Robert I. Grossman MD4

Article first published online: 25 FEB 2009

DOI: 10.1002/jmri.21676

Issue

Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Volume 29, Issue 3, pages 537–544, March 2009

Additional Information

How to Cite

Haacke, E. M., Makki, M., Ge, Y., Maheshwari, M., Sehgal, V., Hu, J., Selvan, M., Wu, Z., Latif, Z., Xuan, Y., Khan, O., Garbern, J. and Grossman, R. I. (2009), Characterizing iron deposition in multiple sclerosis lesions using susceptibility weighted imaging. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging, 29: 537–544. doi: 10.1002/jmri.21676

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Radiology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA

  2. 2

    Department of Biomedical Engineering, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA

  3. 3

    Department of Biomedical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

  4. 4

    Department of Radiology, New York University, New York, New York, USA

  5. 5

    Department of Neurology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA

*MR Research Facility, Department of Radiology, Wayne State University, HUH—MR Research G030/Radiology, 3990 John R Road, Detroit, MI 48201

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 25 FEB 2009
  2. Article first published online: 25 FEB 2009
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 3 NOV 2008
  4. Manuscript Received: 10 JUN 2008

Funded by

  • National Institutes of Health. Grant Number: R01NS029029
  • State of Michigan. Grant Number: 085P5200251
  • Multiple Sclerosis Society. Grant Number: CA1042-A-8

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Keywords:

  • multiple sclerosis;
  • iron deposition;
  • susceptibility weighted imaging;
  • phase imaging

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate whether the variable forms of putative iron deposition seen with susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) will lead to a set of multiple sclerosis (MS) lesion characteristics different than that seen in conventional MR imaging.

Materials and Methods

Twenty-seven clinically definite MS patients underwent brain scans using magnetic resonance imaging including: pre- and postcontrast T1-weighted imaging, T2-weighted imaging, FLAIR, and SWI at 1.5 T, 3 T, and 4 T. MS lesions were identified separately in each imaging sequence. Lesions identified in SWI were reevaluated for their iron content using the SWI filtered phase images.

Results

There were a variety of new lesion characteristics identified by SWI, and these were classified into six types. A total of 75 lesions were seen only with conventional imaging, 143 only with SWI, and 204 by both. From the iron quantification measurements, a moderate linear correlation between signal intensity and iron content (phase) was established.

Conclusion

The amount of iron deposition in the brain may serve as a surrogate biomarker for different MS lesion characteristics. SWI showed many lesions missed by conventional methods and six different lesion characteristics. SWI was particularly effective at recognizing the presence of iron in MS lesions and in the basal ganglia and pulvinar thalamus. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2009;29:537–544. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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