summary: MS is an inflammatory-demyelinating disease of the central nervous system classically characterised by the presence of lesions in the white matter, seen with conventional MRI techniques. However, the presence of clinical disability does not always correlate with the presence of lesions on conventional MRI. The authors of this article compared the spinal cord of a group of healthy controls and a group of people with MS who did not have spinal cord lesions on the conventional MRI, by means of a new MRI technique called diffusion tensor imaging. This technique is based on the ability of water to move through the nervous tissue. They found that the spinal cord of people with MS showed abnormalities even in the absence of lesions, suggesting that these abnormalities could partially explain the accrual of disability in people with MS.

authors: Van Hecke W, Nagels G, Emonds G, Leemans A, Sijbers J, Van Goethem J, Parizel PM

source: J Magn Reson Imaging. 2009 Jun 25;30(1):25-34

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