Alterations of magnetic susceptibility are known to occur in the deep gray matter (DGM) of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, reflecting a mixture of atrophy, iron and myelin changes. We combined the analysis of quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and R1 relaxometry contrasts in order to obtain iron- and myelin-specific maps, from which we estimated mean iron and myelin concentrations as well as total iron and myelin contents for each DGM structure. We found increased mean iron in the basal ganglia of MS patients compared to healthy controls, probably reflecting atrophy-related concentration, along with actual atrophy-independent iron depletion phenomena in the thalamus.
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