Abstract #1237

Magnetic susceptibility in primary motor cortex correlates with iron concentration and upper motor neuron impairment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Mauro Costagli¹, Graziella Donatelli², Laura Biagi³, Elena Caldarazzo Ienco², Gabriele Siciliano², Michela Tosetti³, and Mirco Cosottini²

¹Imago7, Pisa, Italy, ²University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy, ³IRCCS Stella Maris, Pisa, Italy

3D gradient-recalled multi-echo sequences were used on a 7 Tesla MR system for Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) targeting M1 at high spatial resolution in patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Healthy Controls (HC). The magnetic susceptibility of the deep cortical layers of patients’ M1 subregions corresponding to Penfield's areas of the hand and foot significantly correlated with the clinical scores of UMN impairment. QSM might therefore prove useful in measuring M1 iron concentration, as a possible in vivo biomarker of UMN burden and neuroinflammation in ALS patients.

This abstract and the presentation materials are available to members only; a login is required.

Join Here