Characterization of Multiple Sclerosis Lesions Through a Quantitative Study of Perfusion Using a Gadolinium Contrast Agent

Ryan Griffin¹, Adam Brandenberry¹, Jiachao Liang¹, Christopher Murphy¹, Trenton Rink¹, Joe Konrad¹, Xiangyu Yang¹, Michael Knopp¹, Steffen Sammet¹

The purpose of this study was to use Dynamic Contrast Enhanced MRI at 3T to quantitatively study the perfusion of MS lesions. Using Brixs two compartment model, we found statistically significant differences in the mean extracted values of the pharmacokinetic values Amp and k_el of enhancing lesions with respect to those from normal appearing brain tissue, as well as a statistically significant difference in the mean extracted value of Amp from hypointense lesions with respect to normal appearing brain tissue. Rising enhancement after the initial uptake of gadolinium (indicated by a negative k_el value) was observed for every enhancing lesion.