Quantitative Measurement Of Iron Deposition In Multiple Sclerosis By Enhanced T2 Star Weighted Angiography

Objective: To quantificationally measure the phase value and R2* value in deep grey nuclei between multiple sclerosis patients and normal control by using Enhanced T2 star weighted angiography, and to determine the correlation between iron deposit and clinical disability status scale, then to exploit a biomarker for monitoring the evolvement of disease. Methods:22 patients with MS, which was confirmed by clinical diagnosis and laboratory tests,22 age-matched normal control underwent brain scans using MRI. Bilateral phase value, and R2* value of head of caudate nucleus(HCN), globus pallidus(GP), putamen(PUT), substantia nigra(SN), red ucleus(RN) and thalamus(THA) were measured for MS patients and NC. Moreover, the correlations between there phase value and R2* values as where as EDSS scores were respectively. Results:(1)Compared with the NC, the mean phase values of bilateral deep gray nuclei generally decreased in the MS patients, and significantly differences were observed in bilateral HCN,PUT,SN,RN(P<0.05). Bilateral GP,THA had no significantly correlation with controls(P>0.05).(2)Compared to the NC, the mean R2* values for all the deep gray nuclei generally increased in the MS patients. Furthermore, the mean R2* values of all the deep gray nuclei are significantly higher than NC(P<0.05).(3)There was no significantly correlation between EDSS score and mean iron deposition of MS patients.(P >0.05).Conclusion: ESWAN is a powerful tool for assessing iron deposition in brain. Because of the significantly higher values in many deep gray nuclei, we consider that iron is an important factor in MS.