Wafaa Zaaraoui1, Yann Le Fur1,
Alexandre Vignaud2, Elisabeth Soulier1, Patrick Viout1,
Irina Malikova1,3, Audrey Rico1,3, Bertrand Audoin1,3,
Sylviane Confort-Gouny1, Patrick J. Cozzone1, Jean
Pelletier1,3, Jean-Philippe Ranjeva1
1CRMBM UMR CNRS 6612, Marseille,
France, Metropolitan; 2Siemens Healthcare, Saint-Denis, France,
Metropolitan; 3Ple de Neurosciences Cliniques, Service de
Neurologie, Hpital de La Timone, Marseille, France, Metropolitan
To assess non-invasively brain diffuse microstructural changes in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, we developed a diffusion tensor 1H MR spectroscopic sequence (STEAM) at 3T to determine relative brain metabolite concentrations and diffusion characteristics of NAA, creatine and choline. The results demonstrate the complementarities of information provided by concentrations and diffusion characteristics of metabolites to evidence microstructural disorganization in white matter and grey matter of MS patients. This preliminary study demonstrates the feasibility of the diffusion tensor MR spectroscopic technique in vivo and its ability to better detect, quantify and monitor the pathological processes involved in MS.