T1-weighted MRI identifies signs of multiple sclerosis

Long-standing suspicions about noncontrast T1-weighted MRI's usefulness as a biomarker for multiple sclerosis have been confirmed in a study showing that hyperintense plaques revealed with the technique are associated with brain atrophy, disability, and an advancing course for the disease.

Dr. Vallabh Janardhan and colleagues at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and State University of New York at Buffalo retrospectively reviewed data from 145 MS patients who underwent unenhanced T1-weighted MRI from July 1995 to June 1999. Ninety-two patients had relapsing-remitting MS, and 49 were diagnosed with secondary-progressive MS. The disease type was unknown in four cases. The investigators found a significant correlation between hyperintense lesions, detected with noncontrast T1-weighted MRI, and secondary-progressive MS (Radiology 2007;244:823-831).