Iron accumulation in the basal ganglia is more pronounced in the early phases of clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) and definite multiple sclerosis (MS), but short-term changes in iron concentration are not associated with disease activity or changes in disability, a longitudinal 3T MRI study of 144 patients reports.
Investigators followed patients both clinically and with 3T MRI for an average of 3 years and found:
• Subcortical gray matter iron deposition was higher in MS than CIS at baseline.
• In CIS, R2* rates increased in the globus pallidus, putamen, and caudate nucleus, but decreased in the thalamus.
• In MS, R2* rates increased in the putamen, remained stable in the globus pallidus and caudate nucleus, and decreased in the thalamus.
Citation: Khalil M, Langkammer C, Pichler A, et al. Dynamics of brain iron levels in multiple sclerosis: A longitudinal 3T MRI study. Neurology. 2015. pii:10.1212/WNL.0000000000001679. [Epub ahead of print]