Abstract #2105

Preparation for Multi-Site Myelin Water Relaxation Studies: Inter and Intra-Site Reproducibility in Normal Controls

Cornelia Laule^1,2, Irene M. Vavasour¹, Burkhard Mdler², Trudy Harris³, David KB Li¹, Anthony L. Traboulsee⁴, Alex L. MacKay^1,2

¹Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; ²Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; ³UBC MRI Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; ⁴Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Quantitative assessment of T₁ and T₂ relaxation has the potential to provide important in-vivo markers for disease progression and treatment efficacy in pharmaceutical trials. The present study examine cross-site reproducibility of mean T₁, geometric mean T₂ (GMT₂) and myelin water fraction (MWF) measured on the same 5 people at 6 sites. Average percent differences of inter and intra-site reproducibility was <1% for GMT₂, ~3% for T₁ and ~6% for MWF. While mean T₁ and GMT₂ have slightly better reproducibility, MWF provides a specific measure of brain myelin content, and is hence ideal for assessing neuroprotective and remyelination strategies.