Yaou Liu MD, PhD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Yunyun Duan, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Jinhui Wang, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Kuncheng Li MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

To compare the structural and functional alterations in thalamus between neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and multiple sclerosis(MS) by combining multimodal MRI techniques; and to investigate the correlations between different modalities and clinical variables.

We studied the whole thalamus in 33 MS, 38 NMO patients and 40 well-matched healthy controls. Six measurements were obtained for the whole thalamus and seven thalamic subregions of each participant including the gray matter volume (GMV), fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), cross-correlation coefficient of spontaneous low-frequency (COSLOF) and weighted functional connectivity strength (wFCS) from multimodality MRI data. All of the measurements were compared among groups using multiple one-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVA). Correlation between MRI-based measures and clinical variables was investigated by multiple partial correlation analyses. At last we performed a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis to determine the power of the observed between-group differences to classify the groups.

Significant group effects were detected in the GMV and WM integrity (FA and MD) of the whole thalamus (P < 10-3), while only MS patients showed decreased COSLOF and wFCS than HC, no significant functional parameters were found between NMO and HC. Significant correlation was identified between structural measurements, but not between structural and functional measurement in both MS and NMO. The observed differences in structural GMV and FA/MD of the  thalamus exhibited fair-to-good-excellent discriminative power indistinguishing the three groups (Figure1). 

Widespread alterations of thalamic structure and function were identified in patients with MS, while NMO showed milder structure damage without significant functional abnormalities. The thalamic structural parameters showed fair-to-good-excellent discriminative power with very high specificity in three groups, which serves as potential MRI biomarkers to distinguish MS, NMO and HC.

This study revealed different patterns of thalamus involvement by multimodality MRI in MS and NMO. It helps understand the different pathophisiological basis of the two diseases and improve the differential diagnosis 

Liu, Y, Duan, Y, Wang, J, Li, K, Multimodal Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Thalamus in Multiple Sclerosis and Neuromyelitis Optica.  Radiological Society of North America 2014 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, - ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2014/14014487.html