Characterization of differences between multiple sclerosis and normal brain: a global magnetization transfer application.

AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 1999 Mar;20(3):501-7



Ostuni JL, Richert ND, Lewis BK, Frank JA

Laboratory of Diagnostic Radiology Research, National Institutes of  Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Although the exact nature of the  physiological differences between normal and multiple sclerosis (MS)  brains are unknown, it has been shown that their global magnetization   transfer ratio (MTR) values are significantly different. To more
fully understand these differences, we examined MTR values by using  30 distinct measures. We provide a unique illustration of these  differences through a derived normal-to-MS transform.

METHODS: Global   MTR values for the group of normal subjects and for the group of MS
subjects were characterized by 30 different measures involving simple  statistics, histographic characteristics, MTR order information, and  MTR range information. The measures that were significantly different  with respect to these two groups were discovered. From the mean MTR
histogram of the two groups, a transform was created to describe a  conversion between the two brain states. Normal data were passed  through this transform, creating a set of pseudo-MS data. The  measures that were significantly different from the normal and  pseudo-MS data were also obtained in order to verify the accuracy of  the transform.

RESULTS: Seventeen of the 30 measures were determined  to be significantly different when comparing the sets of normal and  MS data. The same set of 17 measures were found to be significantly  different when comparing the normal and pseudo-MS data.

CONCLUSION:   The differences in the global MTR values of normal and MS subjects
are statistically significant compared with a large number of  measures (alpha = 0.05). A normal-to-MS transform is a novel method  for illustrating these differences.


 PMID: 10219419, UI: 99236159

  This material is provided as general medical information and is not intended as advice for individual patients; please contact your physician for specific recommendations.

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