New MRI technique maps 20-plus multiple sclerosis biomarkers in a single noncontrast scan
A new multiparametric MRI technique could significantly improve the diagnosis and management of multiple sclerosis, and it doesn’t require the use of contrast.
Contrast-enhanced MRI is considered the standard of care for diagnosing MS. The use of a gadolinium-based contrast agent (GBCA) helps radiologists visualize active inflammation, which is critical to understand the disease’s process; active inflammation indicates that the central nervous system is vulnerable to damage. On MRI, active or new lesions are enhanced when contrast is used, giving providers valuable information into how the disease is progressing and/or responding to treatment.
Although GBCAs are used less frequently to monitor MS, they are routinely utilized when MS patients experience flare-ups or new symptoms. Given the concerns voiced by both patients and medical experts throughout the years regarding gadolinium retention, reducing reliance on contrast for MS monitoring has been a goal among providers for years.
Now, researchers with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed an MRI technique they say can accurately assess MS progression without contrast.
“Multiplexed MRI,” or MRx, is an acquisition and processing method that uses an artificial intelligence-based framework to achieve high-resolution multiparametric mapping of several molecules at once. Using just a single, noncontrasted scan, the technique can produce a large dataset of over 20 quantitative structural, physiological and molecular biomarkers of the brain. These biomarkers offer valuable insight into inflammation, myelin damage, nerve fiber injury, metabolic activity and more.
The team recently detailed their method in the journal Nature.
“With our integration of ultrafast data acquisition and physics-based machine learning methods for data processing, MRx overcomes several longstanding bottlenecks to fast, high-resolution multiplexed imaging,” co-author Rong Guo, PhD, with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said in a news release on the study. “This gives clinicians and researchers better understanding of not only the brain’s structure, but also its physiology and molecular processes, within a single imaging framework.”
So far, clinical testing has revealed the technique to be very effective at differentiating between different types of MS lesions and giving the team insight into patients’ disease progression. It also has enabled researchers to observe metabolic alterations, edema, axonal damage and demyelination in tumors. All of this information can be used to inform more targeted treatment, Guo and colleagues suggested in their paper.
“We anticipate that the new quantitative multiplexed imaging capabilities of MRx would substantially enhance the capability of MRI for diagnosis, monitoring and assessment of therapeutic efficacy of many neurological diseases and potentially transform brain imaging for both research and clinical applications.”
Read more here.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.