Quantifying Cervical Spinal Cord Pathology of Multiple Sclerosis Using Oscillating Gradient Spin-echo DWI

Motivation: Spinal cord MRI has both diagnostic and prognostic value for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Several quantitative MRI biomarkers show high sensitivity to characterize MS lesions but lack pathological specificity. Time-dependent DWI may reveal microstructural features and pathological variations in MS. Goal(s): To explore diffusion time-dependence in the cervical spinal cord and its potential to quantify pathology of MSApproach: Optimized oscillating gradient spin-echo (OGSE) DTI were performed for healthy volunteers (N=18) and MS patients (N=17). Results: Diffusivities show time-dependence in the dorsal-columns and lateral-funiculis of healthy controls. The increase of RD in MS lesions is larger than healthy WM when diffusion time decreases. Impact: The time-dependence of diffusivities in the cervical spinal cord of healthy volunteers and MS patients are observed using optimized OGSE DWI sequences on a clinical scanner. This may reveal further insight into the microstructural differences and pathological variations in MS.