What is a T1 lesion in MS?
T1 -hypointense lesions (T1-black holes) in multiple sclerosis (MS) are areas of relatively severe central nervous system (CNS) damage compared with the more non-specific T2-hyperintense lesions, which show greater signal intensity than normal brain on T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
What does hyperintense T1 mean?
Hyperintense cerebral changes on T1-weighted images are formed due to accumulation of substances characterized by short longitudinal relaxation time including: gadolinium contrast, intra- and extracellular methemoglobin, melanin, fatty and protein-rich substances and minerals, i.a. calcium, copper and manganese.
What kind of lesions do you get with MS?
In MS, patients develop various areas in the brain and spinal cord where the myelin is stripped off of the nerves. These areas are called plaques or sometimes lesions. When the myelin is off, the electrical conduction of these nerves is altered. It is like getting a fuzzy signal on a television set.
What is the difference between T1 and T2 lesions?
A T1 MRI image supplies information about current disease activity by highlighting areas of active inflammation. A T2 MRI image provides information about disease burden or lesion load (the total amount of lesion area, both old and new).
What is T2 hypointense lesion?
T2 heterogeneous hypointense or mixed signal solid lesions have intermediate signal or T2 inhomogeneous signal with a mixture of T2 low and bright signal (higher than that of the outer myometrium or skeletal muscle). These may represent either benign or malignant lesions, either primary or secondary 3, 8.
What is a T2 hyperintense lesion?
A hyperintensity or T2 hyperintensity is an area of high intensity on types of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the brain of a human or of another mammal that reflect lesions produced largely by demyelination and axonal loss.
How are T1-Hypointense lesions related to disease activity?
Recent studies have shown that the varying degrees of T1-weighted hypointensities could represent different levels of disease activity ( 11 – 17) and, therefore, correlate with the lesions’ metabolism obtained with localized proton MR spectroscopy ( 15, 16 ).
How big is T1-hypointense in the brain?
T1-weighted spin-echo axial, sagittal, and coronal MR images (450/15 [TR/TE]) and T2-weighted spin-echo axial MR images (2500/90) were obtained with 240 × 240 mm 2 fields of view and 256 × 256 matrices. Section thickness was 7.5 mm in the axial and 10 mm in the coronal and sagittal directions.
How is multiple sclerosis disseminated in the brain?
Characteristically, and by definition, multiple sclerosis is disseminated not only in space (i.e multiple lesions in different regions of the brain) but also in time (i.e. lesions occur at different times).
When is the peak of multiple sclerosis presentation?
The presentation is usually between adolescence and the sixth decade, with a peak at approximately 35 years of age 12,19. There is a strong, well recognized female predilection with a F:M ratio of approximately 2:1 19 .
