Abstract #1331

Cerebral Blood Flow in Pediatric Multiple-Sclerosis Patients and Age-Matched Controls Using Phase-Contrast MRI

Christopher K. Macgowan¹, Katherine Chan, Suzanne Laughlin², Stephanie Khan³, Ruth Ann Marrie⁴, Brenda Banwell³

¹Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto / Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada; ²Medical Imaging, University of Toronto / Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada; ³Pediatrics (Neurology), University of Toronto / Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada; ⁴Internal Medicine (Neurology) and Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Using phase-contrast MRI, we have quantified cerebral blood flow in pediatric subjects with multiple sclerosis (N=26) versus age-matched controls (N=26). This study establishes reference values for normal pediatric flow for future neurological studies. Arterial and venous flow measurements were highly reproducible within individuals. However, inter-subject variability in venous flows underscores the difficulty of attributing pathological significance to individual venous flows.