• Laura E Jonkman, Lazar Fleysher, Martijn D Steenwijk, Jan A Koeleman, Teun-Pieter de Snoo, Frederik Barkhof, Matilde Inglese, and Jeroen Jg Geurts.
• Department of Anatomy & Neurosciences, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands le.jonkman@vumc.nl.
• Mult. Scler. 2016 Sep 1; 22 (10): 1306-14.

BackgroundCortical gray matter (GM) demyelination is frequent and clinically relevant in multiple sclerosis (MS). Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (qMRI) sequences such as magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) and quantitative R2* (qR2*) can capture pathological subtleties missed by conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences. Although differences in MTR and qR2* have been reported between lesional and non-lesional tissue, differences between lesion types or lesion types and myelin density matched normal-appearing gray matter (NAGM) have not been found or investigated.ObjectiveIdentify quantitative differences in histopathologically verified GM lesion types and matched NAGM at ultra-high field strength.MethodsUsing 7T post-mortem MRI, MRI lesions were marked on T2 images and co-registered to the calculated MTR and qR2* maps for further evaluation. In all, 15 brain slices were collected, containing a total of 74 cortical GM lesions and 45 areas of NAGM.ResultsIntracortical lesions had lower MTR and qR2* values compared to NAGM. Type I lesions showed lower MTR than type III lesions. Type III lesions showed lower MTR than matched NAGM, and type I and IV lesions showed lower qR2* than matched NAGM.ConclusionqMRI at 7T can provide additional information on extent of cortical pathology, especially concerning subpial lesions. This may be relevant for monitoring disease progression and potential treatment effects.© The Author(s), 2015.

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