New insight in perivenular lesion formation in MS on weekly susceptibility weighted images

Abstract
In this paper, we take advantage of a unique longitudinal MRI dataset acquired at weekly intervals on untreated multiple sclerosis patients. We study the signal dynamics of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis lesions on SWI MRI and show, thanks to an unsupervised spatiotemporal clustering algorithm, that specific signal intensity behaviors exist between the veins and the lesions that are synchronous with contrast enhancement on gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted MRI. Our study shows that vein narrowing depicted on SWI is an early event that appears to precede blood-brain barrier disruption signified by contrast-enhancement.

"...CONCLUSION
Intralesional vein stenosis is reversible and consistent with focal hypercellularity in the context of T-cell aggregation during MS lesion formation. Spatio-temporal clustering enables automated detection of venular and lesional changes over time. Our findings are not generalizable due to insufficient spatial resolution, yielding only 3 analyzable lesions. Future work at high temporal and spatial resolution is needed. Nevertheless, our findings are a further step in the understanding of MS plaque formation, and might guide future research into disrupting lesion formation at its earlier stages.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304396152_New_insight_in_perivenular_lesion_formation_in_MS_on_weekly_susceptibility_weighted_images

Capillary veins contract before MS lesion formation!

Thanks to frodo on ThisIsMS for the link:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304396152_New_insight_in_perivenular_lesion_formation_in_MS_on_weekly_susceptibility_weighted_images