Ultrahigh-field MRI and Multiple Sclerosis The development of lesions in the brain’s cortical gray matter is a strong predictor of neurological disability for people with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study reported in 2019 in the journal Radiology. The findings suggest a role for ultrahigh-field MRI in monitoring the progression of MS, says Constantina A. Treaba, a researcher working with Caterina Mainero in the Martinos Center’s Multiple Sclerosis Imaging Lab and first author of the study. Multiple Sclerosis, the most common cause of chronic neurological disability in young adults in the West, was once thought to be a disease of the brain’s white matter. Recent
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research has shown, though, that cortical lesions—that is, lesions found in the gray matter of the outer layer of the brain—could develop even earlier than white matter lesions in the course of the disease. The involvement of cortical lesions raises several questions, Treaba says. Not least: What causes cortical gray matter damage in MS? How quickly do cortical lesions accumulate in MS, especially relative to lesions in the white matter? And what are the contributions of each of these to neurological disability in MS? Cortical lesions are difficult to see with 3T MRI scanners, commonly
Constantina A. Treaba
