Detection of normal appearing white matter abnormality in MS – A comparative study slow diffusion component change patterns in relapsing-remitting MS and subcortical vascular chan…

Purpose/Introduction: Experimental evidence suggests, that the slow diffusion component depicts intracellular/intraaxonal water molecules rather than the extracellular fraction. We developed and implemented advanced diffusion weighted (DWI) MR sequences and analysis strategies for slow diffusion component analysis. High b-value DWI and q-space analysis were compared in patients with MS and subcortical vascular lesions (SVE) to assess the methods sensitivity to detect abnormalities in the normal appearing white matter. Subjects and Methods: Forty patients (20 with relapsing MS, 20 with SVE Fazekas grade I-III) an…