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MP2RAGE provides new clinically-compatible correlates of mild cognitive deficits in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

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Abstract

Despite that cognitive impairment is a known early feature present in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, the biological substrate of cognitive deficits in MS remains elusive. In this study, we assessed whether T1 relaxometry, as obtained in clinically acceptable scan times by the recent Magnetization Prepared 2 Rapid Acquisition Gradient Echoes (MP2RAGE) sequence, may help identifying the structural correlate of cognitive deficits in relapsing-remitting MS patients (RRMS). Twenty-nine healthy controls (HC) and forty-nine RRMS patients underwent high-resolution 3T magnetic resonance imaging to obtain optimal cortical lesion (CL) and white matter lesion (WML) count/volume and T1 relaxation times. T1 z scores were then obtained between T1 relaxation times in lesion and the corresponding HC tissue. Patient cognitive performance was tested using the Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuro-psychological Tests. Multivariate analysis was applied to assess the contribution of MRI variables (T1 z scores, lesion count/volume) to cognition in patients and Bonferroni correction was applied for multiple comparison. T1 z scores were higher in WML (p < 0.001) and CL-I (p < 0.01) than in the corresponding normal-appearing tissue in patients, indicating relative microstructural loss. (1) T1 z scores in CL-I (p = 0.01) and the number of CL-II (p = 0.04) were predictors of long-term memory; (2) T1 z scores in CL-I (β = 0.3; p = 0.03) were independent determinants of long-term memory storage, and (3) lesion volume did not significantly influenced cognitive performances in patients. Our study supports evidence that T1 relaxometry from MP2RAGE provides information about microstructural properties in CL and WML and improves correlation with cognition in RRMS patients, compared to conventional measures of disease burden.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Jaeseok Park for his kind help with the DIR sequence as well as Georgina Palau for her dedicated work.

This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation under grant PZ00P3_131914/11, the Swiss MS Society and the Societé Académique Vaudoise.

The funding sources had no role in study design, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, in the writing of the report and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

Conflicts of interest

Dr Krueger and Dr Kober work for Siemens AG. The other authors have no competing interests and nothing to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Neurology, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Samanta Simioni, Renaud Du Pasquier, Myriam Schluep & Cristina Granziera

  2. Advanced Clinical Imaging Technology, Siemens Schweiz AG, Healthcare Sector, Renens, Switzerland

    Guillaume Bonnier, Tobias Kober, Gunnar Krueger & Cristina Granziera

  3. Department of Radiology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    David Rotzinger & Reto Meuli

  4. STI/IEL/LTS5, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, VD, Switzerland

    Fabio Amarù, Guillaume Bonnier, Tobias Kober, Jean-Philippe Thiran & Cristina Granziera

  5. Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, Anatomy and Histology Section, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Fabio Amarù & Andrea Sbarbati

Authors
  1. Samanta Simioni
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  2. Fabio Amarù
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  3. Guillaume Bonnier
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Correspondence to Fabio Amarù.

Additional information

S. Simioni and F. Amarù contributed equally and share first authorship.

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Simioni, S., Amarù, F., Bonnier, G. et al. MP2RAGE provides new clinically-compatible correlates of mild cognitive deficits in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. J Neurol 261, 1606–1613 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-014-7398-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-014-7398-4

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