Adil Maarouf1,
2, Jean Christophe Ferr3, 4, Wafaa Zaaraoui1,
Elise Bannier5, Christian Barillot6, Isabelle Berry7,
Gilles Edan8, Damien Galanaud9, Jean Pelletier,
110, Christophe Portefaix11, Ayman Tourbah12,
Jean-Philippe Ranjava1, Bertrand Audoin, 110
1CRMBM,
CNRS UMR 7339, Marseille, France; 2Dept. of Neurology, CHU REIMS,
Reims, France; 3Dept. of Neuroradiology, CHU Rennes, RENNES cedex
9, France; 4Visages U746 , INSERM INRIA IRISA, Rennes, France; 5Neurinfo,
INSERM INRIA IRISA, Rennes, France; 6Visages U746, INSERM INRIA
IRISA, Rennes, France; 7Dept. of Biophysics, CHU Toulouse,
Toulouse, France; 8Dept. of Neurology, CHU Rennes, Rennes, France;
9Dept of Neuroradiology, Piti Salptrire Hospital, Paris,
France; 10Dept. of Neurology, CHU Marseille, Marseille, France; 11Dept.
Radiology, CHU Reims, Reims, France; 12Dept. of Neurology, CHU
Reims, Reims, France
Macrophage infiltration is an important pattern in inflammatory processes associated to multiple sclerosis. The aim of this longitudinal and multicentric study was to determine the prevalence of USPIO enhancement in patients with early MS and the impact of macrophage activity at early and medium term on tissue integrity assessed by MTR. From the earliest stage of MS, we highlighted the presence in vivo of activated macrophages. Destructuration was higher and persistent in lesions with significant macrophages burden. The total T2-w lesion was significantly higher in the group of patient that had at baseline at least one USPIO-positive lesion.