Craig2024WCIMS

Title

What Can Medical Imaging Tell Us About Multiple Sclerosis?
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Authors

Adam Craig, Carl Taswell

Affiliations

Brain Health Alliance Virtual Institute, Ladera Ranch, CA 92694 USA

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that induces complex patterns of anatomical, biochemical and pathophysiological changes in the human nervous system. Identifying these changes helps clinicians and researchers to distinguish MS from other disorders with similar symptoms. Tracking them over time is necessary to monitor the efficacy of treatments and assess patients' changing needs. For these purposes, clinicians and researchers rely mainly on two medical imaging modalities: magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). The most common protocols for these two technologies have complementary roles, with T1-weighted and T2-weighted MRI revealing structural changes, such as lesions and demyelination, and PET detecting local changes in energy consumption, indicative of brain and nervous system activity. However, experimental approaches to MRI and PET show potential for expanding the capabilities of both. PET has untapped versatility due to its ability to detect signals from a wide variety of radiotracers, each of which helps to track concentrations of a specific class of disease-relevant molecules. Furthermore, the utility of PET for MS has increased in recent years due to improvements in entire-body PET scanners, which allow more accurate imaging of the entire nervous system. In this review, we summarize how clinicians currently use imaging to diagnose and monitor MS. We then survey experimental imaging protocols and the evidence for and against their applicability to MS.

KeyPhrases

Multiple sclerosis, medical imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, radiotracers.

Dates

Created 2024-07-03, received 2024-07-14, updated 2024-09-04, published 2024-09-04.

Citation

Brainiacs Journal 2024 Volume 5 Issue 1 Edoc E96583810
DOI: 10.48085/E96583810
NPDS: LINKS/Brainiacs/Craig2024WCIMS

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