This study evaluated RRMS and age-matched control longitudinal changes in iron/myelin-sensitive quantitative MRI of the deep gray matter (DGM) over 5 years. In addition to standard bulk analysis of the DGM, we have used a recently introduced analysis framework that utilizes combined R2* and QS for Discriminative Analysis of Regional Evolution (DARE) to identify regions of iron and myelin longitudinal change. The main findings of the study are the significantly different volume shrinkage rates of the thalamus and iron decrease rates of the caudate, thalamus, and globus pallidus over 5 years compared to age-matched healthy controls. Additionally, iron decrease in the CN and GP was shown to be correlated to clinical disease severity and duration, respectively.
This abstract and the presentation materials are available to members only; a login is required.