Abstract #2106

1H-MRS and Water Proton T1 Investigations of New Lesions in Relapse Remitting Multiple Sclerosis

Madeleine Hodgson¹, Cornelia Laule^1,2, Irene Vavasour^1,2, Burkhard Mdler¹, Alex MacKay^1,2

¹Physics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; ²Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Little is known about the pathological evolution of acute MS lesions. Using 1H-MRS one can measure changes in metabolites such as n-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), which may become altered in MS. We used 1H-MRS and water proton T1 measurements to investigate the time-course of biochemical changes occurring in new MS lesions. Multi-voxel 1H-MRS data was acquired monthly from 20 Relapsing-Remitting MS subjects. Metabolite and water proton T1 changes for the same volume were investigated Lesions exhibited a significant decrease in NAA and a significant increase in mean T1, compared to normal appearing white matter, 2 months before lesion appearance on conventional imaging.