Similar research at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston aligns with Brigham and Women's use of 7T MR scanning on MS patients, finding that it enables greater visualization of cortical lesions in the grey matter of the outer layer of the brain. The state of the lesions can be a strong predictor of the level of neurological disability experienced by people with MS.

Zurawski says plans for further research are underway with the hope being that greater study with 7T MR scanners will answer questions such as if treatment of LME may affect disease progression, and if the findings of the study apply to those with the progressive form of the disease. Current patients will be checked on to see how LME and gray matter lesions changes over months and years, and more participants will be added to the study.


"Expanding the study to larger number of MS patients will add statistical power and allow us to more reliably assess how these results will apply more broadly. We studied only relapsing (early stage) MS in this study and expanding the work to include progressive MS patients will help us to understand how LME and gray matter relationships change with disease course," he said. "Finally, with larger numbers of patients, we can better assess the effects of MS treatment on meningeal and gray matter changes."

The study was supported by The Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at the Brigham, and the Watercove Foundation. Zurawski has received consulting fees from ERT Consulting.

The findings were published in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal.

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