Longitudinal Quantitative synthetic MRI assessment of hippocampus in early-stage multiple sclerosis: correlation with cognitive scores

Motivation: The longitudinal changes of the quantitative MRI parameters in the hippocampus of MS patients and their correlation with clinical factors remains unclear. Goal(s): This study aimed to characterize the longitudinal changes of quantitative parameters in the hippocampus and explore the relevance of these changes to cognitive assessment. Approach: Quantitative values calculated using Synthetic MRI technique and extracted for different subregions of the hippocampus. Results: Compared with healthy controls, significant differences of quantitative values in the hippocampus, particularly in the subiculum, were observed. At 1-year follow-up, clinical improvement was associated with lower T2 values in the entire hippocampus. Impact: Synthetic MRI can effectively evaluate changes in the normal-appearing hippocampus of MS patients and may be useful for monitoring disease progression clinically.