Abstract #1018

Ultra High-Field (7T) Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) in People with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

Nazem Atassi¹, Christina Triantanfyllou², Boris Keil², Robert Lawson¹, Lindsay Kaplan¹, Christina Dheel¹, Alyssa Murphy¹, James Berry¹, Nouha Salibi³, Ravi T. Seethamraju⁴, Bruce Rosen², Merit Cudkowicz¹, Eva-Maria Ratai²

¹Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States; ²Radiology, MGH/HST Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, United States; ³Siemens Healthcare, MR R&D, Siemens, Auburn, AL, United States; ⁴Siemens Healthcare, MR R&D, Siemens, Charlestown, MA, United States

High field (7T) MR spectroscopy, specifically ultra short TE STEAM with VAPOR water suppression was used to study brain metabolite concentrations in people with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). N-acetylaspartate/creatine was decreased in ALS in the motor cortex indicating neuronal injury or loss. Contrary to our initial hypothesis, glutamate was decreased in the ALS group without significant changes in glutamine. Interestingly, myo-Inositol/creatine was increased in the ALS group suggesting increased glial proliferation and inflammation in the motor cortex. Furthermore, the increase in myo-Inositol/creatine strongly correlated with pathological reflexes, a clinical marker of upper motor neuron degeneration.