Diminished Visibility of Cerebral Venous Vasculature in Multiple Sclerosis by Susceptibility- Weighted Imaging at 3.0 Tesla

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system characterized by widespread demyelination, axonal loss and gliosis, and neurodegeneration; susceptibility- weighted imaging (SWI), through the use of phase informa- tion to enhance local susceptibility or T2 contrast, is a relatively new and simple MRI application that can directly image cerebral veins by exploiting venous blood oxygen- ation. Here, we use high-field SWI at 3.0 Tesla to image 15 patients with clinically definite relapsing-remitting MS and to assess cerebral venous oxygen level changes. We dem- onstrate significantly reduced visibility of periventricular white matter venous vasculature in patients as compared to control subjects, supporting the concept of a widespread hypometabolic MS disease process. SWI may afford a non- invasive and relatively simple method to assess venous oxygen saturation so as to closely monitor disease severity, progression, and response to therapy.