YNICL Journal 2021 Journal Article
High-b diffusivity of MS lesions in cervical spinal cord using ultrahigh-b DWI (UHb-DWI)
- Kyle Jeong
- Lubdha M. Shah
- You-Jung Lee
- Bijaya Thapa
- Nabraj Sapkota
- Erica Bisson
- Noel G. Carlson
- E.K. Jeong
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate UHb-rDWI signal in white matter tracts of the cervical spinal cord (CSC) and compare quantitative values between healthy control WM with both MS NAWM and MS WM lesions. METHODS: was estimated by fitting the signal-b curve to a double or single-exponential function. RESULTS: /s, respectively. UHb-rDWI signal-b curves of the MS patients revealed to noticeably behave differently to that of the healthy controls. The patient signal-b curves decayed with greater high-b decay constants to reach lower signal intensities relative to signal-b curves of the healthy controls. CONCLUSION: values in MS lesions compared to NAWM and healthy control WM. Based on physical principles, we interpret these altered observations of quantitative diffusion values to be indicative of demyelination. Further studies in animal models will be required to fully interpret UHb-DWI quantitative diffusion values during demyelination and remyelination.