Mina Kim1, Aaron Chan1, Henry Mak1,
Queenie Chan2, Koon Ho Chan3
1Department of Diagnostic Radiology,
The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China; 2Philips
Healthcare, Hong Kong; 3Department of Medicine, The University of
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Diagnosing
neuromyelitis optica (NMO) in the early stages is crucial in order to provide
the proper treatment as it involves aggressive and severe attacks of
blindness and paralysis. However, current diagnostic criteria in routine
practice using conventional techniques are not sensitive to early
abnormalities in NMO. In the present work, we conducted magnetization
transfer (MT) imaging for NMO patients. Our results show that it is feasible
to assess NMO cervical cord damage of normal appearing tissues using the
quantitative capability of MT imaging, which may lead to a better
understanding of the clinical manifestations in NMO.