Quantitative Assessment of Iron in Multiple Sclerosis Lesions

Christian Langkammer¹, Michael Khalil¹, Christian Enzinger¹, Mirja Wallner-Blazek¹, Margit Jehna¹, Siegried Fuchs¹, Franz Fazekas¹, Stefan Ropele¹

This study assessed iron accumulation in white matter lesions of 116 MS patients using R2* relaxometry. Intralesional R2* rates were compared to normal white matter of age matched controls and were related to clinical parameters. They showed a negative correlation with T2 lesion load and a positive correlation with brain atrophy and were significantly decreased in MS patients compared to white matter R2* rates of controls. The results of this work do not support expectations of increased iron accumulation in MS lesions, but rather indicate lower levels compared to normal white matter.