Alexandru Vlad Avram1, Arnaud Guidon1,
Jeffrey Petrella, Joel Morgenlander2, Allen W. Song
1Brain Imaging and Analysis Center,
Duke University, Durham, NC, United States; 2Department of
Neurology, Duke University
We
present a stimulated echo DTI sequence with magnetization transfer capable of
imaging the diffusion anisotropy of myelin water and evaluate its potential
for early detection of white matter abnormalities in multiple sclerosis. The
observed myelin-specific FA changes clearly indicated the underlying
demyelination in MS patients, and the degrees of the FA changes may further
characterize the stage of disease progression, which may lead to an early
detection of areas undergoing initial myelin microstructural changes before
any significant myelin content reduction.