CHED 1309 |
| Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a powerful tool for monitoring disease evolution over time. On MRI, inflammatory lesions are the first recognizable pathological event. These contrast enhancing lesions (CELs) are associated with blood brain barrier breakdown and are visible as long as the inflammation persists as hyperintesities on T1-weighted MRI obtained post gadolinium injection. In MS, two types of CELs have been identified based upon the shape they present on MRI. These are called ring-CELs (rCELs) and nodular CELs (nCELs). rCELs consist of a peripheral hyperintensity surrounding a region of hypointensity, nCELs are completely hyperintense with no hypointesity. rCELs have been associated with a severe prognostic outcome over time. Indeed, it is likely that the central hypointense area represents tissue where myelin and axonal loss occurs, surrounded by peripheral inflammation (Roychowdhury et al., 2000). The latter correlates with the idea that demyelination occurs in a concentric fashion (Guttman et al., 1995). T1-hypointense lesions on T1WI or black holes (BHs) are a further type of lesion which may be identified on an MS patient. BHs are believed to represent areas of severe disease course where permanent axonal loss occurred. BHs arise from CELs and approximately 20% of CELs will terminate with the formation of a BH. In the present study, we utilized the formation and duration in time of newly formed BHs as a possible marker to assess the question as to whether rCELS are associated with a worse prognosis over time. |
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Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Medicinal
2:00 PM-4:00 PM, Monday, March 26, 2007 Hyatt Regency Chicago -- Riverside Center, Poster
Division of Chemical Education |